And while a butler doesn't come with the property, this is the sort of house that could probably do with one!

Dating back to 1820, Coolfin was built as the main Church of Ireland Diocesan Rectory for the Upper Third Barony of Waterford. A classical 19th century Georgian property, designed as a five-bay, twostorey, Glebe House, Coolfin Rectory is very large by modern standards.

Despite its age, this is no rambling ruin with draughty windows and creaky floorboards, thanks to the current owners, the Maxwell family, who purchased the property in Portlaw in 1991.

"Coolfin had previously been owned by an American, who had started some work on the house, but nothing had been done for 16 years, and it needed a huge amount of restoration, " explains Gavin Maxwell.

"We had a consultancy business and we thought it would be great if we could restore the house . . . and then some of our international clients who came to visit could stay overnight."

In a massive building and restoration project that took over six years to complete, the Maxwells completely reroofed the house, installed new plumbing and wiring throughout, and put in new windows, along with sensitively restoring plasterwork, flooring, marble fireplaces and other original features.

"We did most of our research from church records and architectural reports, " says Gavin. "Many of the features had been covered over and, with the help of specialist tradespeople, we had plasterwork remade, cobbles relaid in the courtyard, and the gardens, which had been hugely neglected, were also restored."

Truly one of the fine big houses of the past, Coolfin includes an outer hall, inner hall, formal dining room, drawing room, morning room, rear hallway with cloakroom, kitchen, breakfast room, scullery and pantry, laundry room, eight bedrooms, two bathrooms and guest WC.

This house is impressive from the moment you enter, with a large marble fireplace and Waterford Crystal chandelier in the outer hall.

The large dining room, decorated in period style, is ideal for formal entertaining . . . with its shuttered casement windows, large marble fireplace and original timber flooring, now restored.

Another elegant room is the drawing room, again with a marble fireplace, and featuring north and east-facing bay windows.

The morning room is in the east wing and gets sun for most of the day. This is another spacious room with a Victorian fireplace and timber flooring.

A rear hallway provides access to the kitchen and breakfast rooms, as well as the cloakroom and guest WC.

The kitchen is authentic country-style with its Stanley range and original game and meat hooks hanging from the ceiling, along with the handmade fire-clay floor.

There is direct access to the breakfast room from the kitchen, beyond which there are also the usual utility rooms, including boiler room, spacious scullery and pantry, and laundry area, Adjoining the main west wing of the house is a cottage-style annex with brick floor, fireplace and WC. Currently used for storage, this area could be converted into staff or extra guest accommodation.

Upstairs, all eight bedrooms are accessed from a long cloistered hallway. All the rooms have been drylined and insulated by the current owners, and most have Victorian fireplaces and views of either the courtyard, gardens or orchard.

The main bedroom has an en-suite, while another of the bedrooms has direct access to an adjoining room that could be used as a dressing room or nursery.

Outside, the grounds are just as impressive as the house, retaining many of the species planted in the early 19th century, including a 130ft eucalyptus tree, the tallest in Ireland, and several varieties of palm, cedar, beech, oak and holly.

An enclosed hard tennis court, lawns, vegetable beds, apple orchard, fruit trees, greenhouse and composing area complete the gardens.

Outbuildings that come with the property include a coach house with studio accommodation, a garage and an office, from which Gavin Maxwell and his two sons operate their design and technology business.

The old stables have been repaired and used as a woodshed and storage area.

Price: 2.3m Agent: HOK Country, 016634350