In Irish, Magherabeg means “small, fertile grassy plain” and this Victorian house of that name overlooking Donegal Bay has the fertile plain and much more on its beautiful grounds, which extend to 28 acres of woodland and pasture, with more than a kilometre of sea frontage.
The main road to Donegal town, 2km away, passes behind the five-bed period property, which cannot be seen from the road as it is screened by belts of trees – some very old and others planted 25 years ago, a mixture of beech, oak and ash. And adding to the historical allure of this coastal retreat is the 15th-century remains of a Franciscan friary hidden among the trees.
But this house is all about the sea and the coastline attached to it. The property was built by an engineer for the Congested District Boards in 1860s, and bought by the current family’s grandfather in 1928. The owner’s son recalls an idyllic childhood of making hay with old rakes in the pastures adjoining the house and riding horses over the mudflats in front of the shore when the tide was out.
It’s an elegant yet relaxed double-bay-fronted house with an area of 320sq m (3,444sq ft), and is Ber-exempt. The front door is under a veranda leading to the bright and welcoming entrance hall. To the left is a beautifully appointed diningroom with an open fireplace and bay window; wallpaper is used extensively throughout the house, and the paper here is a rich red. The family did lots of entertaining through the decades and one can imagine the wine and conversation flowing in this room.
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A drawingroom lies behind the diningroom, with an original Adams fireplace, and leads on to a piano room with French doors. These are rooms designed for entertaining, and there is a family sittingroom to the front of the house, with views across the lawn in front of the house that sweep down to the sea, encompassing Donegal Bay and St Ernan’s island.
There is a guest WC, a study, utility and bootroom on the ground floor, providing all the requirements necessary for a family interested in outdoor pursuits and horses. A large, homely kitchen completes the accommodation on the ground floor, with an Aga cooker and a breakfast nook built into one corner. New owners will probably want to modernise the kitchen.
Upstairs there are five double bedrooms. The main bedroom is truly sumptuous, with a double aspect and sea views. It shares an en suite with another bedroom. The remaining bedrooms are, like the rest of the house, beautifully decorated with an old-style charm that never really dates. On this floor there’s a shower room, a bathroom and a WC, so adding extra en suites would not be too difficult. There’s attic space on the second floor that could also be adapted.
As befits a home where horses were kept and ridden by the children, the outdoor courtyard has stables as well as a two-bedroom guest apartment.
One of the family members describes the grounds as “a playground” and notes it was always a happy place, “entirely its own entity’, completely secluded and private yet within striking distance of Donegal town. The gardens are lovely, well planted and maintained with a rockery, a greenhouse, a stone patio and a hard tennis court.
Magherabeg House, being brought to market by Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes and Anderson Auctioneers seeking €985,000, presents a rare opportunity to acquire a small country estate with a beautiful home leading directly to the sea. The shoreline is rocky, there is no beach, but when the tide is full it’s possible to slip from one of the rocks into the pristine Atlantic waters.
