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Moygannon House in Warrenpoint, on the market for £1.25 million, comes with myriad period features along with a music room, dance studio, tennis court and stables
Along the curving shoreline of Carlingford Lough, and where, as the song has it, the Mountains of Mourne sweep down, is a very special property.
Moygannon House, at 54 Rostrevor Road, Warrenpoint, near Newry, Co Down, sits within sheltered grounds of 3.7 acres at the end of a winding, leafy drive.
This Regency villa, with its pale pink exterior and bow windows, looks straight out of a Jane Austen novel. But along with carefully preserved early 19th century period details referencing its B+ listed status, this is also a home to please the senses and sensibilities of a modern family seeking the good life.
With a generous interior of about 548 square metres of living space that includes a dance studio and music room, the surrounding gardens equally impress. Amidst the great outdoors, there are some trees which date back to when the house was built, such as a 200-year-old oak. There are also stables, a paddock and a floodlit tennis court.
Not surprisingly, there has been great interest in the property since it went on the market just before Christmas, as Garrett O’Hare, director of Northern Ireland-based Bradley Estate Agents, which is handling the sale, explains.
“We have had enquiries locally, from the Republic, and also from the United States. It is not just because this is a unique house, but that beautiful location too that has been somewhat undiscovered for some time. Along with the Mourne Mountains, you can look across to the Cooley Mountains, while the lough is so close you could easily go for a swim within minutes if the fancy took you,” O’Hare said.
The pretty coastal village of Rostrevor itself, one mile from the property, sits within a scenic area which some refer to as the Riviera of the North. And well they might, for this is the starting point for a drive around the Cooley Peninsula, as well as hiking on the mountains, and walking and nature spotting in Rostrevor Forest. It is also easy to see how ‘Kodak Corner’ in nearby Kilbroney Park earned its name – the views across the lough towards the sea are especially picturesque.
In terms of convenience to bigger towns, Newry is 9 miles to the northwest, while the cities of Belfast and Dublin are just under a 60-minute drive.
Moygannon House has been with the same family for the past 30 years. They restored the property over that time with careful consideration of its authentic period features, while modernising the kitchen, the bathrooms and en suites. One of the bigger projects was the creation of a studio from which they ran a dance school over the years.
Inside, the house is as charming as its exterior suggests, with a spacious entrance through double doors with decorative side panels and a fanlight into a reception hall bathed in natural light. There is rich architectural detail here on display in decorative arches, high ceilings with plaster coving and an antique chandelier suspended from the centre rose – all an indication of the elegant reception rooms leading off.
To the left is the formal drawing room, while directly opposite is the dining room. The rooms mirror one another and light floods in from the three tall sash front bay windows with working shutters in each. Both rooms boast open fireplaces with marble surrounds – one black, one white – and, as in the hall, the high ceilings retain decorative plasterwork and chandeliers.
An open arch from the hall leads to the kitchen, which is fully fitted with white, hand-painted presses, tiled worktops and splashbacks, a central island with a breakfast bar, and a range of integrated appliances. Double doors lead out from here to a balcony and side terrace.
A cosy family room with similar period features to the formal reception rooms, including an open fire with marble surround, is next to the kitchen.
A door from this room opens to the bedroom wing of the house. All four double bedrooms again have period features as before, and have shuttered sash windows with garden views.
The principal bedroom opens into the en suite, with both bath and shower, and a dressing room. Both the main and second bedroom have open fireplaces, while rooms three and four have recessed hand-basins with storage underneath. The main shower room and a guest WC complete the accommodation on this level.
Downstairs at lower ground level the floor plan echoes the rooms above, all leading off from a long entrance hall.
This part of the house is very much designated for work and play, with sash windows ensuring lots of natural light in every space. There is a separate entrance to the dance studio, which has a semi-sprung solid maple floor, four full-height mirrors and solid wood barres along two walls. There are views from here to the garden and driveway.
The music room nearby looks over the garden too and the internal courtyard, and it has an open fireplace with slate surround. Also on this level is a utility room, guest WC, playroom, games room, storeroom, and that transitional space common to the grand country house – a boot room.
Outside is a double garage, with a number of outbuildings which include stores and a greenhouse. The extensive grounds are a real feature of the property, with a broad sweep of lawn to the front of the house, with mature shrubbery, hedgerows, specimen trees and woodland providing a sheltered backdrop.
Moygannon House has a guide price of stg £1.25 million (about €1.42 million), through Bradley Estate Agents & Chartered Surveyors at 0044-2830050633
Originally published by the Sunday Business Post
