Wisteria-clad home with American-style luxury interiors on 14-acre estate outside Naas for €4.95m
Address
:
Bridlewood, Forenaughts Little, Naas, Co Kildare
Price
:
€4,950,000
Agent
:
Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes
Nine kilometres east of
Naas
,
Kildare
's county town, is the
Bridlewood Estate
; built about 25 years ago, it offers
prospective buyers
with deep pockets all the grandeur of a period pile as well as all the creature comforts of contemporary life.
Constructed on lands that once belonged to the prominent Kildare family, the Wolfes of the Forenaghts Estate, the almost 14-acre estate, which contains multiple properties, was reimagined by Paul Brazil of Brazil Associates Architects.
The detached six-bedroom main house extends to 715sq m (7,696sq ft) behind a wisteria-clad neo-Georgian exterior, and has an impressive B3 Ber.
In addition, there is a B2-rated two-storey wellness centre/office pavilion on the estate extending to 245sq m (2,636sq ft).
READ MORE
There's also an older two-bedroom gate house extending to 97sq m (1,044sq ft) that formed part of the original entrance to the estate. It has an E1 Ber. Together these three properties total 1057sq m (11,377sq ft) in size. It's a whopping amount of space, and that's excluding the stable block and American-style barn.
[
Wicklow cottage with picture-perfect views of the Sugar Loaf and sea for €1.695m
Opens in new window
]
Sittingroom
Livingroom
Kitchen
Entrance hall and breakfast room
Diningroom
Conservatory
Inside, the decor throughout the main house is US-influenced with all the quiet luxury hallmarks of its classic, contemporary style.
You enter into a large square hall with a galleried landing above. The breakfastroom is to the left and opens through to a large dual-aspect bespoke kitchen, designed by Seabury Kitchens, that runs the depth of the property. The owners visited Carrara in Italy to select the marble slabs that would become the countertops.
Off the kitchen is a family room and to its rear are the engine rooms of the home, including a cloakroom, a laundry room, a pantry and a utility room with bathroom. To its rear is a substantial games room, suitable for use as a billiards room, a home cinema or even an additional bedroom suite.
To the back of the property is the formal diningroom, where the owners have often entertained guests; it has sliding pocket doors that open through to a beautifully proportioned drawingroom.
Three sets of French doors lead from the drawingroom to the extensive patio which has half walls for shelter and a large outdoor fire as its focal point. It looks out on to mature woodland.
Bedroom
Bathroom
Garden
Office pavilion
Garden
Stables
Tennis court
Bridlewood House, Forenaghts Little, Naas, Co. Kildare
Should you wish to enjoy port and cigars after dinner you can retire to the library on the far side of the drawingroom.
An orangery at the eastern wing of the house by Vale Garden Houses has a lead roof complete with lantern roof light and fine wicker furniture.
Upstairs there are six roomy bedrooms, two of which are en suite. The spacious principal suite has a walk-in wardrobe and a spa-style bathroom that includes a Jacuzzi bath overlooking the gardens.
In the detached two-storey office pavilion, the ground floor offers a suite of treatments from a sauna and steam room to a Jacuzzi, shower and changing rooms. The sauna in particular gets regular usage. 'It gives you great clarity. I find you think better,' says the owner.
Upstairs there are several offices including one standout space clad in limed oak panelling and fitted with custom cabinetry.
The property also features a lawn tennis court and two par 3 golf holes.
The grounds feature formal gardens, woodlands and parkland to ensure year-round visual interest; it also has a river running through it.
The train station is 10 minutes away in Sallins, with services to Heuston and the Docklands.
Johnstown is just 3.5km away with access to the M7, while Kill is 5km away. Naas offers independent boutiques and eateries to satisfy even the most discerning palette. The owner likes to dine at Vie De Chateaux. Other favourites include The Brown Bear at Two Mile House and The K Club.
The property is on the market seeking €4.95 million through joint selling agents Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes and Sherry FitzGerald O'Reilly.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on proliferating drones: don't look up
This week the Dáil was warned of a dystopian future of Irish skies filled with commercial drones. People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger played footage of drones hovering noisily over Blanchardstown rooftops, while Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon called for a temporary restriction zone over Glasnevin. Despite the hyperbole, concerns over noise, privacy and safety are valid. At the heart of the growing unease is a company now operating high-frequency drone food deliveries in west Dublin, and reportedly planning to expand to the northern and southern suburbs before rolling out nationwide. With weekly flight volumes already in the thousands, the shift from pilot project to daily reality is well underway. Ireland finds itself at the leading edge of drone delivery in Europe, praised by operators for a regulatory environment that fosters innovation. Drones are being used not just for burgers and burritos, but for medicines and time-sensitive consumer goods. Yet what industry advocates view as forward-thinking policy, critics see as dangerously lax. They argue that existing laws are outpaced by the speed of technological development and ill-equipped to manage the risks. This is acknowledged in the Programme for Government, which commits to integrating drone oversight into the air navigation division of the Irish Aviation Authority. The Taoiseach has conceded new regulations are needed to deal with drones 'flying left, right, centre', suggesting an Oireachtas committee should investigate the matter further. READ MORE While the Government reflects, the drone economy is scaling up fast. Communities in Tallaght, Glasnevin and beyond will soon hear the distinctive buzz overhead if planning applications are successful. The concerns which have been expressed over noise and privacy are legitimate. But others border on the moralistic. The question is not whether drone deliveries will be part of modern life – they already are – but how they are regulated to ensure that innovation serves the public good, rather than intrudes upon it.
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Eight new Cork rail stations to go to public consultation
Eight new potential rail stations and other Cork transport works are to be considered in a public consultation next week. The proposals include new stations at Blackpool, Monard, Tivoli, Carrigtwohill West, Water Rock, Ballynoe, Blarney and Dunkettle. A new fleet maintenance depot, which will be designed to cater for an electrified fleet of up to 150 carriages, will also be considered during the public consultation due to open on Wednesday. The proposals are part of the second phase of the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme which, if fully delivered, will enable up to a 10-minute service frequency on all three Cork commuter lines. READ MORE The programme is funded by the National Transport Authority (NTA) under Project Ireland 2040, which also aims to address population growth, job creation and housing needs. It represents the largest investment in the Cork commuter rail network, and is noted as a key project in the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy 2040, which aims to reduce reliance on private vehicles in the area. Phase one of the programme involved the opening of a new platform at Kent Station in April. Commuters can now travel between Mallow in the north of the county and Cobh in the east without having to change trains at Kent. The first phase also incorporated the upgrading of the existing rail line between Glounthaune and Midleton to a twin track, which is expected to be finished next year. The project is set to facilitate a tripling of service frequency along the line. Former minister for transport Eamon Ryan previously said the programme represents 'the largest investment in the rail network in Cork undertaken by the State. It will completely transform transport in and around the city'. The consultation will be launched at Kent Station by Minister of State Jerry Buttimer, and will remain open to public submissions until Wednesday, July 23rd.
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Rent reforms: Coalition's big cure for rental market somewhat diluted by mixed messages
Story of the Week The Government presented it as a coup, something that came as a surprise to the Opposition, that would remove any basis for attack. For weeks, there were rumours that the rent pressure zones (RPZs) were about to come a cropper, and the Government was going to scrap, or seriously curtail their use, in a bid to attract big finance to reboot the construction of apartment blocks, which has been moribund for many months. And yes, the news that the RPZs were being extended across the State did serve to blunt Opposition attacks. After all, has the Opposition not been calling for months to save them? And applying them everywhere made sense, given that 24 of the 31 councils, and 111 of the 166 local electoral areas, were already in RPZ zones. Curbing the 'no-fault' notice to quit was also a smart move in heading off the Opposition. READ MORE It was the subsequent policy announcement that was to prove more tricky. The new distinction between small and corporate landlords. The fact that there will be different rules for new tenancies in the future, which will be set at market rate, with increases measured against inflation. The right of landlords to reset rent after six years. Those new rules were designed to attract institutional investors back to the Irish market. They wish to have predictable returns on their investment, and it is clear that RPZ was a big impediment for at least some of those. It's clear that the purpose of the change was to strike a balance between protecting the rights of tenants (already paying painfully high rent) and those of investors who are badly needed to to be part of the solution. The policy, or the communication of it, was not thought through, however. When detailed questions were asked, there were conflicting and ambiguous answers coming from different Ministers. Would existing tenants in RPZ be subject to that six-year rent review? It took a day for that to be clarified, with the Opposition claiming some hasty revision took place. Would announcing the start date of March 2026 encourage landlords to hold off renting properties and then benefit from higher rents from next year? James Browne ended up taking some flak. He's not the world's best communicator but he's a doer. That said, it's going to take a long time before we know if this measure will make any difference. Elsewhere, Stephen Collins is writing about the tortuously slow pace of any development or project in Ireland . He adjudges this to be a hard decision. Time will tell on that. But many more hard decisions need to be taken to bridge that yawning gap between supply and demand. Bust up The first item on the agenda of any Irish political party is the split. And the smaller and more marginal the party, the bigger the chasm. Our colleague Ronan McGreevy brought us this intriguing report this week about 30 activists leaving People Before Profit because – wait for it – it had become too mainstream and establishment. The walkout has been led by Dublin city councillor Madeleine Johansson. There was some jaw-dropping rhetoric in it. The 'fake democracy of the Dáil' should be replaced by a 32-county workers' republic. 'Assemblies of workers in workplaces and communities elect delegates, who are recallable, to a workers' national assembly.' Wow. To effect, one working-class revolution is required involving mass protests and strikes leading to workplace occupations and a challenge to the old State. Democracy in action? Well, not quite. One of the bases of the objection is that PBP would consider joining that bastion of the establishment, Sinn Féin, in Government. To quote the statement, a Sinn Féin-led government would 'coalesce with the establishment and leave untouched the real government, the permanent government – the State bureaucracy, army chiefs and head Guards'. That's what you call sweeping changes. Not that Paul Murphy is overly concerned right now, having been detained in Egypt while on the Great March to Rafah. That's all very well but does any of this affect me? It happened so long ago, 36 years ago, in 1989, that it seems historical. But the circumstances of the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane by loyalist gunmen have suppurated like a wound for more than three decades. Today's announcement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, is a big moment. He confirmed the independent chair and assessors for the public inquiry into the murder of Mr Finucane. And so it is important. As Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in a statement: 'This is the final outstanding inquiry from those that were recommended by Judge Cory in 2004, and it is positive that it can now move to beginning its important and substantive work. 'Today's announcement highlights the importance that a way forward is found to comprehensively address all the outstanding cases of the Troubles.' Banana skin The National Shared Services Office (NSSO) is usually a backwater for news stories but on Tuesday all that changed when Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers held an unexpected media conference. As Cormac McQuinn reported, pension payment calculations for some Ministers, including current serving ones, might have been overstated, or understated, up to the tune of €30,000. It was also revealed that a pool of 13,000 retired civil servants who were on work-sharing arrangements are to have their pension deductions checked for underpayments. There is also an issue in relation to the pensions of 30 retired senior civil servants. One of them could owe as much as €280,000 as a result of NSSO errors. Now the Public Accounts Committee is taking an interest in it. This could get very sticky for the NSSO. Winners and losers Winner: James Browne, for pushing through a hard political decision. Loser: James Browne, for failing to communicate clearly enough what it did and did not do. The Big Read Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones are examining in detail the background and the implications of this week's big RPZ announcement. Ellen Coyne has an interview with a grieving mother who has serious questions for Children's Health Ireland. And, of course, Miriam Lord's Saturday column. Hear here Friday's Inside Politics podcast looks at Minister for Housing James Browne's announcement of plans to change the rules around rent pressure zones (RPZs). Will the Government's gamble on investment pay off? And why was the roll-out so haphazard?
