Thursday, March 30, 2017

You Can Either Buy A Round of Guinness For Four Million Of Your Pals Or You Can Buy A Guinness 'Castle' and 5000 Acres

So there I was, looking at properties accessible to Dublin, what with the Brexit and all I thought there might be a bet in there somewhere, when this pops up.
It's not a real castle despite the crenelated battlements. More of a mini-castle, but cute.

https://tribkiah.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/promo314074932.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=1200

From the Irish Times:

Denis O’Brien shows interest in buying Luggala
Guinness family’s 5,000-acre estate in Co Wicklow is on the market for €28m 
Businessman Denis O’Brien is understood to be interested in buying the Luggala estate in Co Wicklow which is on the market for €28 million.

Mr O’Brien recently inspected the Guinness family-owned 5,000-acre spread near Roundwood.
Cradled in a valley between Luggala and Djouce mountains, the estate’s fairy-tale castellated white stucco house, Luggala Lodge, has a quite unique front garden water feature: Lough Tay.

The house was built originally for the French Huguenot La Touche family of Greystones, and the estate was bought by Ernest Guinness in 1937 as a wedding present for his daughter, Oonagh. 

Today, it is the occasional home to her son, arts and Irish music patron Garech Browne, and his wife, Princess Harshad Purna Devi of Morvi....MORE
The Irish Times has more on the background of the place in Jan. 25's "Guinness ancestral home in Wicklow goes on sale for €28m"

Here's the listing at Sotheby's which stresses the property is larger than it looks:
...Inside a composite sequence of elements work together to produce a coherent whole. Within a modest footprint Luggala Lodge manages to contain 3 substantial reception rooms as well as a wealth of smaller chambers on both the ground and first floors, with the latter's size not being externally apparent. There are 7 bedrooms within the main house, 4 within the guest lodge and a further 16 comprised within 7 estate lodges and cottages throughout the estate. In all the accommodation within the estate extends to some 1,802 square metres or 19,099 square feet...