The Argory

The name’s Bond, Walter MacGeough Bond – the man who built this fine Irish gentry house in the early 1820s. Then he got to work filling it with some of the most stunning pieces of period furniture you’ll find anywhere on the island of Ireland. Take the grand cabinet barrel organ, for example, which can be played during a guided tour. Or the Doomer cabinet, a 17th-century Dutch piece so impressive it has spent time on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Mr Bond was also a keen art collector and his extensive collection of family portraits, gilt-framed engravings and copies of Old Masters are on display around the home. A tour also reveals other delights such as the gorgeous cantilever staircase and the acetylene gas lighting fixtures, which lit the main house until the early 1980s. It’s hard not to feel like a character from a period drama as you uncover room after room of this enchanting house that has remained practically unchanged since 1900.

Luckily for visitors, The Argory is beautiful inside and out. Well-preserved outbuildings including the stable yard and the laundry yard can be explored. The gardens are a standout sight – rose bushes, pavilions, a sundial dating back to 1833, all of these charming features will whisk you back in time as you stroll along taking in the crisp country air. Further afield, two scenic walks await. The river walk takes in the River Blackwater, home to colourful kingfishers, while the lime tree walk meanders past an avenue of towering lime trees and a wildflower meadow. Add a café serving light lunch bites, a second-hand bookshop and an artisan pop-up shop into the mix and The Argory makes a serious argument as a must-visit historic landmark in this idyllic part of Armagh.