Architect-designed pad in Blessington has a unique view captured in a famous Irish movie
Asking price: €925,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald (01) 4140004
If you’re Irish, you well know. Never, ever cut down a fairy tree. If you do, tradition has it that bad luck will befall you for the rest of your life.
Take John DeLorean, one of the USA’s most successful motor industry executives — until he came to Ireland and cut down a fairy tree. At least, that’s what locals assert.
They say that when clearing ground at Dunmurry to set up the plant for production of his namesake sports car, there was a fairy tree in the way. DeLorean asked that it be removed. Locals wouldn’t do it, so he had to bring someone in to cut it down.
After that, DeLorean’s factory and business failed, he got charged with cocaine trafficking, the British came after him alleging misappropriation of government funds, his wife divorced him and he had to declare bankruptcy.
Finally, his Bedchester mansion and estate was repossessed and sold at a knockdown price to Donald Trump, who turned it into a golf course. Don’t feck with the fairies.
The poster for This Is My Father with the tree in the background
Their tree is typically ash or hawthorne, often gnarled, and it usually stands solitary in a field, either jutting out of a rock or surrounded by large stones.
There’s one on a mound in a field in Blessington, which can be seen from the window of Annamoe, a four-bedroom house on an acre of land. It was a key scene maker in the 1998 film This Is My Father, starring Aidan Quinn and James Caan and the tree features on the promo poster.
An aerial view of the property and grounds
There’s a stone plaque explaining its status on the road leading to the house.
“There’s a perfect view of the fairy tree in the distance from the back windows of Annamoe,” says Keith Wall, who’s selling the 4,000 sq ft-house, which has its own cinema room.
A management consultant, and the part-owner of a gym, Wall is from Ballyfermot, but lived in Kildare for over 20 years. In 2021, he was dividing his time between Ireland and the US, where he was working, but on moving back here full-time, decided to live in the countryside.
Owners Keith Wall and Kirsty Cully. Photo: Bryan Meade
“I wanted more space and somewhere my two daughters Aoibhínn (13), and Áine (9) would enjoy living,” he says.
He was blown away when he and his partner Kirsty Cully, who works for a pharmaceutical services company, first came to view it. Approaching, via a gated gravel driveway, the house looks like an ordinary bungalow, but once you enter, it becomes apparent that this home is different.
The home bar
“The day was spectacularly sunny,” he recalls. “When we pushed open the front door, we were immediately hit by the most stunning views.
“You can see through the windows on the other side to the Wicklow Mountains. The Blessington Lakes and Blessington Village are in the distance. It’s just breathtaking.”
The house has big windows in nearly all of the rooms. It’s not overlooked so the sun rises to the front in the morning and goes over it, setting at the back. Annamoe was built in 2005 and designed by the architect Damien Murtagh in an ‘upside down’ format to best avail of those views.
You walk into a mezzanine hallway, with a kitchen on the right, a living room on the left, and a dining room/sunroom off it. There are two double bedrooms, an office and the main bathroom on this floor too.
Downstairs was one big open-plan room with dramatic five-metre-high floor-to-ceiling windows. But the space was too big. “It was just a massive, open room with not much in it,” says Wall.
“We thought very carefully about what we’d like to do with it,” adds Cully. The couple enjoy entertaining so they added a bar section and a pool table in the downstairs open-plan living room.
They also installed a dividing wall to create the aforementioned movie room, which has no windows or door, and is fitted with a cinema screen and a curved couch. This is Wall’s favourite room.
The cinema room
“It’s the only room without a view, but I like to go in there to unwind and watch a movie or sport on the big screen,” he says. “There are no distractions, so it’s relaxing. The kids love it, too. We hold movie nights there at the weekend.”
In addition, they added a spa-like main bathroom with an elegant round bathtub that overlooks the view at the back, upstairs, and a sauna room off the movie room, in what was previously a storage space. All of the four bedrooms are double, and like the other rooms, they have big windows letting in the lights.
They redecorated the entire house, painting the walls white throughout and added pops of colour in the furniture, the furnishings and the artwork. For example, in the bar, they installed a duck egg-blue dresser and two multi-coloured patch-work arms chairs and a rug.
One of the double bedrooms
In the kitchen, new dark green units and countertops were installed. “It’s the most social spot in the house. It’s where people tend to congregate and it incorporates the beautiful views outside,” says Cully.
The solid oak floor has mellowed with time. The house is well insulated and has underfloor heating. They’ve considered adding solar panels and would most likely do so, were they not moving.
The sauna room
The kitchen opens to an elevated deck of approximately 1,000 sq ft which affords the same expansive views. “We spend much of the summer out there,” says Wall.
“We eat there, and the kids are always playing GAA, with the dogs running around.” Now they’re selling to be closer to family.
Blessington Village is five minutes’ drive and Dublin is 40 minutes on the N81. “The house has given us some fantastic memories. It has the space, the light and the spectacular views, but it’s just not the same if you’re stressed about being away from family,” says Cully.
“We love this house, but we’re giving it up with a heavy heart,” adds Wall.
Sherry FitzGerald seeks €925,000.