Two homes in one with views of three beaches

Asking price: €1.25m Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes (01) 237 6303 and Sherry FitzGerald O’Leary Kinsella (053) 943 0088

In a week when all Ireland hit the beach, there’s an unusually shaped hilltop home in Wexford for sale from which you can see three of the best stretches of golden strand that the east coast has to offer.

All are a few minutes from the doorstep of Tearmann, a very large architect-designed pad perched 850 feet above sea level. From their home up on Tara Hill outside Gorey, owners James Dempsey and his wife Jo McAteer can see the beaches at Ballymoney, Courtown and Dodds Rocks (Kiltennel). “Some people say you can see Wales from up here on a clear day,” says Dempsey.

“But with my eyesight I haven’t managed that yet,” he adds.

Also within reach, albeit not in sight are famous sandy stretches at Curracloe, Rosslare and Morriscastle. Tara Hill is itself a target amenity for hill walkers who come up here to avail of the sights from its heights while Tearmann is a seven-bedroom house, designed in 1984 by the well-known Wexford-based architect Stephen Carr.

To understand its unusual almost Y-shaped layout, we need to go back to the 80s when first-year architecture student Stephen fell into some exceptional good luck. “I met a chap called Patrick Kenny and his wife Monica,” Carr recalls.

“When they heard I was an architecture student they asked if I could design a house for them. Just something better than the average bungalow, they said. Here I was in first-year architecture and I had a chance to design a home of almost 6,000 sq ft. Of course I said yes.

“The site had these amazing views. But building a standard rectangular home would have meant that only one side of the house would have them. The Kennys had children but they also wanted his parents to move in with them. So it would be two homes.

That unusual configuration came about to maximise the views — many more rooms and spaces would have them — and to bring in the light. But also to create two individual wings, one for Pat and his wife and children and one for his parents.”

It seems the Kennys were also lucky. Carr would go on to become one of the most accomplished architects in the south east. Now in his sixties, he has a range of big commercial, civic and residential projects under his belt, including the unusual yurt shaped Asples building in Wexford.

The new online brochure of Tearmann provided his first sighting of the house in decades. “It still looks great I’m happy to say. A lot has to do with the quality stone work on the exterior which never dates. The tricky joinery inside was done by my late father Michael who was a master joiner.”

With a floor area of 5,899 sq ft (almost six times the size of an average three bed semi) there’s also an obvious business opportunity here to run a B&B.

James Dempsey and his first wife purchased it in 1992. “The views are just spectacular,” says Dempsey. “I loved the fact that it was so near the coast and from the house we could see it all very clearly.”

The house is also set on 1.47 acres of land and located in a cul-de-sac on a lane. “It’s a friendly community of neighbours, but they’re not on top of each other,” says Dempsey.

There’s a basement running the length of the building, with the living accommodation located above it. It’s accessed via electric gates and a winding driveway and there are steps leading to the front door. It opens into a dramatic entrance hall with brown marble tiles and steps on either side.

Much of the flooring and the ceilings is in hardwood. In the basement there’s a games room with a snooker table on one side and a garage on the other.

Dempsey has three grown-up sons who have flown the nest but still live close-by.

“They were aged nine, 10 and 11 when we first moved in and they got a lot of use out of the games room.”

Dempsey is the owner of Weather Glaze, a Gorey-based company which supplies energy-saving windows and doors, and security systems for houses. As a result, all the double-glazed windows and the doors and fittings are of the highest quality.

McAteer has four children from a previous marriage, two of whom still live here. At one point, all seven children lived comfortably in the house, originally designed to house two families.

Known as ‘Reverend Jo’, McAteer is an inter-faith minister who worked in insurance for years, but left nine years ago and retrained. “I absolutely love what I do,” she says. “I get to marry people and to bury them. The role is perfect for me as I come from a family of undertakers.

“We had many of the timber ceilings in the bedrooms painted. In addition, I had two of the bathrooms modernised and I switched up the kitchen.”

This has pristine white units, an induction hob, and a counter with a quartz worktop and high stools. A sunroom extension had been added which has floor-to-ceiling windows and opens to the garden at the back. “The Weather Glaze windows throughout also help to retain the heat,” adds Dempsey.

The master bedroom was extended by getting rid of a veranda.

They did away with a small reception room and converted it into a spacious ensuite bathroom with a Jacuzzi. There are floor to almost ceiling height windows here and you can sit in the Jacuzzi and look out at the view. The sitting room at the front also offers views of Tara Hill. There’s a raised stone fireplace with a wood-burning stove and a grand piano.

“It’s a great house for entertaining because of its size,” McAteer adds. “We have a big circle of friends and we have often thrown parties for them.

“We’ve had garden parties in the summer, which are always well received.” Tearmann is now too big for their needs so it is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald Country and Sherry FitzGerald O’Leary Kinsella who seek offers in the region of €1.25m.