New life was breathed into a characterful old farmhouse in Urlingford, Co. Kilkenny, on a recent episode of Dermot Bannon’s ‘Room to Improve’ on RTE 1 television.
Dermot was joined by quantity surveyor, Claire Irwin, in renovating Ivan Williams’ forefathers’ farmhouse which was built in 1798.
Ivan and his wife, Grainne Murphy, had been dreaming for many years about restoring the farmhouse, which they looked on as a piece of history.
Ivan said: “A lot of people would say: ‘Knock them down and start again’, but you would lose so much.”
When Dermot first visited the house, Grainne, a part-time school teacher who also gives yoga classes, and Ivan, who farms full-time and is the sixth generation to farm there, had started renovating the exterior of the farmhouse with a limestone render, with the help of a local council grant.
Inside, they were working on the preliminary demolition of the interior of the farmhouse in their spare time.
The couple who have two sons, Senan (10) and Luan (six), who lived with Ivan’s dad down the lane for the last 10 years, managed to avail of the vacant homes grant of €50,000 due to the fact that the house hadn’t been lived in for more than two years.
Given that the house, which had been given to them by Ivan’s grandparents, needed structural work, they were able to secure a top-up of €20,000 as well as an SEAI grant.
As well as conserving the old Urlingford farmhouse, they were keen to incorporate a large bright extension to the side of the house.
Their wish list was for a four-bedroom house with a den, along with a contemporary timber frame extension, optimising the spectacular views of the fields and Aoife’s Castle.
Ivan’s work inside the house, and the grants’ contribution to the coffers, alleviated a lot of the budget concerns.
Original features such as the lintels, were retained.
The couple were thrilled with the final result, saying the total cost had not yet been totted up.
Dermot commended them for their passion in combining a restoration with a new build. The farmhouse is still, he said, the most important building.
“Ivan and Grainne are continuing the story of the house. It means another generation get to live in this fantastic home,” he added.