LOOK WHAT €80k GOT US!
Couple’s astonishing restoration of 110-room Mayo mansion
IT WAS one of the largest houses for sale in Ireland at the time and – incredibly – it was also one of the cheapest.
When Australian Bede Tannock paid €80,000 for the 110-roomed Ballinafad House in Co. Mayo, everyone thought he was mad, including his long-term partner.
But the architect and craftsman had been looking for a ‘project’ in his ancestors’ native home (they left Ireland in 1863) and this giant pile near Ballinrobe was it.
‘Yeah it was pretty immense, the sheer size and scale of it, I still find it like that,’ remembers the 45-year old.
‘I’d seen it online and we flew in from Australia one November day in 2013 and that was it – we owned it a couple of months later.’
Bede and his partner Sandra are the first homeowners to feature on RTÉ’s new property show, the Great House Revival, where architect Hugh Wallace follows the progress of six brave souls restoring period properties.
And even veteran consumers of home makeovers shows should be prepared to marvel at the job Perth native Tannock has done on this Georgian property dating from 1827. A budget of €500,000 is not a lot of money given the size of this pile.
But with that amount, he’s already replaced more than 100 windows and restored multiple rooms to their past splendours.
When he arrived in Mayo, Bede’s plan was to restore certain sections of the house that could generate an income to fund the continued restoration.
They included the entrance hall, stairwell and two drawing rooms of the old estate house, plus the later addition of the large dining hall, assembly hall and chapel.
The programme also features the restoration of the 12-room wing known as the priests’ house as their private accommodation.
Eventually, Bede hopes that the entire seven-acre estate and house will pay for itself by hosting weddings and other events. Already friends from Perth got married there last summer.
It’s an incredible transformation in just three short years.
‘We started work in 2014 and that initially consisted of removing years of debris compounded by two decades of abandonment,’ explains Bede.
‘The first thing we had to do was put on a new roof. The house has survived nearly 200 years but when we came in it was was nearing the point of no return.
‘We fixed the wiring, plumbing and roof and all the boring bits before Hugh and the cameras arrived so they got to see all the glamourous stuff and I think the viewers will like that.’
Despite decades of neglect, Bede found that the main block, the original Ballinafad House, still retained a wealth of original details such as plaster work, door and window cases.
The beautiful fanlight of the original front door has survived and there’s an elaborate ceiling rose when you enter the hallway.
From there, you access one of the most impressive areas of the house, a large double height hall illuminated by a large window.
The room retains beautiful vaulted spaces that contain immaculately restored plaster work.
Bede says the presence of the cameras gave them an impetus to get everything done on time. ‘And it’s a great record to have,’ he adds. ‘Hugh had a wealth of advice and he knows everybody.’
The series will also feature a 15th century crumbling tower house in Cork, a Cavan schoolhouse and an inner city Dublin Victorian townhouse.
Filmed across two years, the series follows every aspect of these mammoth projects as the homeowners do their bit to save a little piece of our heritage.
‘It was pretty immense, the sheer size and scale’
The Great House Revival is on at 9.30pm tonight on RTÉ1.