Houseproud Angela Donagaher has still managed to seasonally adjust the décor of the Harbour Cottage to celebrate Samhain in a decorative way. Just watch out for the ghost features.
Address: The Harbour Cottage, Harbour Street, Mountmellick, Co. Laois, R32DF24
Asking price: €375,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Hyland Keating
Angela Donagaher, owner of the Harbour Cottage on Mountmellick’s Harbour Street, falls into the latter category.
“I’m a big Halloween fan,” she says, “far more so than Christmas.”
She and her husband Mark bought their five-bedroom, two-bathroom detached house property about 15 years ago.
“When we moved in first, we had a few Halloween parties. People went all out on their costumes, and it stemmed from there.”
Alas, this year there will be no Monster Mash, Thriller or Ghostbusters sounding out across the property’s 152 square metres on October 31st.
“With putting the house on the market, there will be no party this year,” she explains.
Situated in the heart of Mountmellick, a heritage town, founded by the Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers, in the 1750s, it became a leading centre of textile production in Ireland, so much so that it became known as the Manchester of Ireland.
It experienced a boom in 1836, when a branch of the Grand Canal opened, and expanded its trade routes throughout the country and beyond.
This explains why their detached house is called Harbour Cottage on Harbour Street.
It was the location of the canal and has since been filled in to accommodate the road, she explains.
With its brick door and window surrounds and Victorian-style facias, the property looks like it could belong to one of these past eras, but it was only constructed in 2002.
It has external charm and good looks, and an impressive B3 Ber-rating.
While this year’s party may have been cancelled, she couldn’t resist adding some of her seasonal decorative flourishes.
From the pumpkin patch atop the oak kitchen table, many of which were bought at Hummingbird Interiors in Portarlington, to the inky green stove in the room’s living area, the house celebrates the Samhain season in a very discreet and tasteful way.
In the adjoining living room, there is a second free-standing stove with a rather witch-like flue that was salvaged from a friend’s house.
There are two potential bedrooms at this level, although the second is on the small side.
There are three more bedrooms upstairs.
Two are very spacious, either of which could be the principal, and the previous owner used the third room as a nursery.
The principal bedroom has double doors that open out to a small Juliet balcony.
There’s a private timber decked area to the side of the house as well as off-street parking for several vehicles.
Look closely at the boundary wall, and you will see features that are the ghosts of properties past.
These two fireplaces predate the house and once formed part of a pub, according to a neighbour.
Agent Sherry FitzGerald Hyland Keating is seeking €370,000 for the property.
