One to watch in the depths of Carlow

02/02/2008

Room Service: Lisnavagh House in Carlow, a family home for 10 generations, is a place of pure, unalloyed comfort - and is getting set for a major revival, writes Patsey Murphy

One of the most remarkable things about Lisnavagh House, on the borders of counties Carlow and Wicklow, is that it has been a family home for 10 generations. That's not to say that the imposing Gothic revival mansion has remained strictly intact for all those years. In 1952, the owners chose to demolish two-thirds of it, kapoom, in a wise if radical move to make it sustainable.

Sustainability remains the challenge for the current young generation of the McClintock Bunbury family, and they are setting about keeping the 1,000 acre wooded estate, with unspoilt views of the Wicklow hills to the east and Mount Leinster and the Blackstairs Mountains to the south, with a feisty creative and entrepreneurial spirit.

If ever there was a case for sibling rivalry, this would be it, but Lord Rathdonnell's children and their wives and husbands, would seem to be getting on remarkably well, with the eldest son, William, holding the keys to the fiefdom, and the rest of them applying a diverse array of talents to the task of developing it for yet another generation.

Emily Bunbury is William's good wife, and she is a genius at events management. Her company, Tailormade Ireland, organises specialist holidays, sometimes of a huntin', fishin', shootin' nature, but not exclusively. It could be a gourmet tour, or a garden whizzaround or whatever you're having yourself.

She has transformed Lisnavagh into a venue for private weddings, house parties and corporate gatherings, and it is in that regard that I am sneaking it into the Room Service column: I was invited there to a house party and slept in the most magnificent bed in the country.

There are seven totally fabulous bedrooms, with en suites carefully added alongside them without disturbing the architectural integrity of the house.

We dined at a long table laden with candelabra, essayed a few songs at the piano in the music room, and were then enveloped by deep and multicushioned sofas by the fireside. By day, we walked the grounds and down the Yew Walk which is quite perfect as an alternative aisle.

The panelled library with an enormous hearth is hung with family portraits, and if you are lucky, historian Turtle Bunbury will be on hand to tell tales about his ancestors in a room that can hold up to 80 people at round tables. Hard to beat as a venue for anyone up to playing lord and lady of the manor.

The house is crammed with antiques, curios, wonderful books, huge arrangements of flowers from the gardens.

A number of country houses that once offered bed and breakfast are going this route - making themselves available on an exclusive hire-basis only - and Lisnavagh has won a number of plaudits already in this regard. Have a look at their website, which is hugely entertaining.

They've also got the Timber Project going, which conditions and supplies home-grown hardwood to furniture makers and carpenters; they are restoring 19th century buildings in the farmyard to be used as workshops and offices; there are cottages on the grounds available for long-term rental and the walled gardens are to be restored, too.

Lisnavagh House and Gardens, in the back of beyond in Co Carlow, is a place to watch.

Lisnavagh House and Gardens, Rathvilly, Co Carlow

Tel: 059-916 1473

e-mail: events@lisnavagh.com