Address: Swordlestown Lodge, Punchestown, Naas, Co Kildare
Price: €2,850,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes and Sherry FitzGerald O’Reilly
View this property on MyHome.ie
Swordlestown Lodge, near Punchestown in Co Kildare, is an intriguing prospect that will be hard to match. A relatively newly built six-bedroom pile, extending to 712sq m (7,664sq ft) with a B1 Ber, its exterior and layout feels like a country house that has sat on this four-acre parcel of land for centuries. However, only a portion of it remains, in the form of an old schoolhouse on the grounds, which has been renovated.
Its owner, Jess Colivet, a personal stylist, has decidedly mixed feelings about parting from her elegant home, which is filled with memories of family parties and decades of entertaining. “We are sending her off, like the grande dame she is, looking her very best,” says Colivet over coffee in the farmhouse kitchen that is the heart of the home. Her husband, quantity surveyor Brendan, agrees it was a perfect home in which to raise their family. He particularly loved developing and tending the spectacular gardens. Swordlestown Lodge is now for sale with joint agents Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes and Sherry FitzGerald O’Reilly, seeking €2.85m.
The entrance to the large compound is through electric hardwood gates down a quiet tree-lined cul-de-sac. Low-clipped hedges topped with hydrangeas border a meandering drive that circles the home; a gravel parterre opens in front of the house, of dusky pink roses and creeping wisteria.
Originally conceived as a double-bay country home, the Colivets extended over the years on both sides, so the original living space was effectively doubled. The double-height entrance hall is lit by a roof lantern, so light cascades over the polished timber flooring.
“I’m a repeater,” says Colivet, explaining she often used the same fabric, colour scheme or wallpaper in different rooms, ensuring the vast interiors feel unified and welcoming. It’s a unique blend of country-style interiors with northern European and coastal Hamptons style thrown in. Interior designer Helen Turkington advised her, but it’s obvious that Jess’s aesthetic eye incorporates interiors too.
To the left of the entrance hall is an informal sittingroom, and to the right is a formal drawingroom with relaxed and subdued lighting that leads through double doors to a diningroom with a box bay window overlooking the gardens.
It connects with the kitchen via a back hall, laid out as a reading area. The country-style kitchen has handcrafted units, a large Aga, a timber-topped island and a large dining area with an impressive arched window. Another sittingroom is accessed down a hall off the kitchen, along with a guest loo which has a wooden pediment over the sink, as does every bathroom in the house.
Off the front of the hall is a spacious utility room with a bank of cabinetry, and stairs lead to a self-contained suite above this new wing with a bedroom, bathroom and sittingroom.
Back in the centre of the house, a library lies to the right of the diningroom with French doors opening to the terrace. There’s a guest bedroom down a flight of short steps with an en suite bathroom off the library.
Entrance Hall 
Sittingroom 
Drawingroom
Here, things get very interesting, with a set of swinging doors leading through to a home office with a vaulted ceiling that could be another living area, ideal for entertaining as it is double aspect and has a unique, Aspen ski-lodge vibe. Underneath it is a fully fitted gym and more storage.
On the first floor, which has four bedrooms, the main suite is sumptuous, with a large bedroom, a bright en suite, and a door that opens to a second dressingroom and another bathroom, which in turn connects back downstairs to the vaulted home office. The rest of this floor has beautifully decorated bedrooms, a main bathroom and a Jack and Jill bathroom between two of the rooms.
Outside, there’s a black cedar treehouse with a wood store underneath. For the adults, the renovated and extended three-bed schoolhouse on the grounds, with an area of 171sq m (1,840sq ft), houses a home bar. In addition, there is a studio/office suite, extending to 196sq m (2,110sq ft), with a games room, an office, a kitchenette, a living area and bedrooms.
Swordlestown Lodge is an effortlessly sophisticated, relaxed and charming home. The terraces to the back of the house give on to a series of lawns and gardens with tree-lined walks so well established it’s hard to believe the house has only been here for over two decades, and not, as its ambience and relaxed elegance suggest, two centuries.
Kitchen 
Dining area 
Library 
Home office or reception room 
Main bedroom 
Main bedroom en suite 
Swordlestown Lodge 
Rear patio 
Gardens 
Old Schoolhouse 
Schoolhouse interior 
Schoolhouse bar 
House exterior