A REAL FAMILY FIND
RIVER GLEBE HOUSE Toomevara, Co Tipperary €465,000
AS the early summer weather continues to play a blinder, conversations are happening at suburban kitchen tables all over Ireland about whether now might be the time to make a move to the countryside. Eye-catching properties such as River Glebe House are the ones that bring into sharp focus the contrast between city and country values. Situated 7km from the M7 and a five-minute walk from the village of Toomevara, which has a shop, pharmacy, doctor and national school, it’s bound to be of interest to young families thinking that there might be a better quality of life to be had in a rural location.
Claire and Gavin Dunne bought River Glebe 19 years ago, moving in when they had three babies then aged three, two and one. Since then two more children have arrived.
As its name suggests, River Glebe is a former rectory, together with its outbuildings, forming a group with the Church of Ireland church in the village of Toomevara, to which it is linked by a beech walk.
You approach the house via an attractive bell-mouthed entrance with cast-iron gates set between stone piers, and a driveway that sweeps up to the front of the house, with paddocks on either side.
“When the children were smaller, we kept a pony in one of the fields,” says Claire, “but more recently they have been leased to a local farmer who uses them for grazing.”
The house is approached via stone steps, and most of the living space is on the entrance level.
“Previous owners had done quite a lot of work to the house,” says Claire, “and because it is a protected structure all the materials used were conservation-friendly. We have continued on over the years. The biggest job was digging out the basement which had been unused for a long time, re-plastering with lime plaster, insulating with materials that allow the old walls to breathe, replacing rotten sashes, and repairing the roof with new timbers and Killaloe natural slate. There’s no damp and the house feels warm and solid.”
When their children were small, Claire ran a bed and breakfast business in the house, using the four bedrooms, one of which is en suite, and the family bathroom on the first floor for guests, while the family lived on the lower ground floor.
“In those days we were half-way between Dublin and Dingle so it was ideally situated in terms of holiday-makers who wanted to break their journey,” explains Claire. “It enabled me to stay at home with the children and have help in the house. But when the by-pass was built the business dropped off and by that time we needed more space for ourselves.”
As currently configured, the reception rooms on the entrance floor are open-plan, with the kitchen, dining room and sitting room being the focal point of the house. French windows provide access to the garden from the kitchen, where a multi-functional traditional cream Aga, above which a handy Sheila Maid for drying clothes is suspended, is used for cooking and plate-warming as well as generally keeping the house cosy year round. There’s a solid fuel stove in the dining room and an open fire in the sitting room.
The lower garden level can be accessed both externally and internally from the main hall. There is an en suite bedroom here, along with two further rooms, one used as a playroom, and a store room. The Dunnes use the whole of the house on a daily basis.
Most of River Glebe’s five acres are to the front of the house in the two paddocks, but there are also gardens surrounding the house on three sides, with lawns, mature planting and plenty of room for growing vegetables, keeping hens and the like. A stream runs along its western edge.
To the rear of the house are two cut-stone outbuildings that would have been used as stores and coach houses in the past.
“Some years ago we applied for and were granted planning permission to turn them into two self-catering residential units,” says Claire, “but that permission has now lapsed.”
It will of course be open to new owners to seek a new permission, and they may also wish to restore the hexagonal gate lodge at the entrance to the property, which is in need of complete refurbishment.
“When we first arrived at River Glebe we were told that a family of seven or eight had lived in the gate lodge, and that they worked milking cows for the main house,” says Claire.
Located five-minutes’ drive from Moneygall and the Barack Obama Plaza that links Dublin to Limerick, the location of River Glebe House will suit those who can work from home yet need to be within a relatively easy commute of Dublin, Galway or Limerick when necessary.
Shannon, where Gavin’s work as a chemist has been based for many years, is a 20-minute drive.
The Dunnes keep a boat and have enjoyed sailing on Lough Derg. They are moving for work reasons, and hope to re-locate to the Waterford coast, where Claire and Gavin are both from originally. “If only we could bring the house with us,” says Claire. “We have been very happy here.”