{"id":20007,"date":"2025-09-14T03:32:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T03:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/20007\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T03:32:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T03:32:22","slug":"the-organic-outdoor-pool-turned-it-into-a-house-for-all-seasons-indiana-jones-authors-former-jacobean-style-retreat-in-offaly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/20007\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The organic outdoor pool turned it into a house for all seasons\u2019: Indiana Jones author\u2019s former Jacobean style retreat in Offaly"},"content":{"rendered":"

This couple weren\u2019t afraid to put a colourful stamp on former retreat of novelist Thomas Campbell Black\n<\/p>\n

Asking price: \u20ac1.65m<\/p>\n

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes (01) 2376300<\/p>\n

\u200bWhen Harry Whelehan and his wife, Rachel Meagher, added their organic swimming pool \u2013 what they call the \u2018fifth element\u2019 of their Co Offaly home \u2013 the house finally felt complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe organic outdoor pool turned it into a house for all seasons. Up until then, it had always been a great winter house, full of fireplaces and cosy rooms for entertaining. Now it became a summer home too, perfect for barbecues, outdoor gatherings and lazy afternoons by the water,\u201d says Whelehan.<\/p>\n

\"Harry<\/p>\n

Harry Whelehan and Rachel Meagher <\/p>\n

Organic pools, which have been growing in popularity in Ireland, use plants and natural filtration rather than chlorine. \u201cWe saw the organic pools designed by Cathal O\u2019Meara, a landscape architect in Co Cork, and really liked the idea of it, so we got him to build ours,\u201d he says. \u201cWe missed the sea here in the middle of Ireland [Harry is from Greystones], but once the pool came along, it fulfilled our desire for water.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pool has two zones: one for swimming, and a regeneration zone filled with aquatic plants, gravel and filters. \u201cRachel swims year-round, while I usually brave it in summer. The water is from our own spring, so it\u2019s pure and chemical-free.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple bought the house in 2004. \u201cAt that point, we were a young family with one baby and a second on the way,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had looked around in Sandymount for a house with a budget around \u20ac700,000, but didn\u2019t find anything and wanted to get out of Dublin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whelehan\u2019s father, former attorney general Harry Whelehan, had a holiday home in Shinrone, so the couple knew the area. \u201cThe house had been on the market for a while-at the time and people weren\u2019t that interested in taking on a lifestyle property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""\u201cThe<\/p>\n

“\u201cThe house is large but manageable \u2013 about 10,000 sq ft, with eight main bedrooms, vaulted ceilings, and fireplaces in almost every room, surrounded by 23.9 acres of land.”<\/p>\n

The previous owner was the late Scottish author Thomas Campbell Black, who bought the property in the early 1990s. He often wrote as Campbell Armstrong, with 38 books including the novelisation of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he wrote in just 10 days.<\/p>\n

The original Jacobean-style house was completed in 1850, but is on the site of a castle which was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell. A small section of the house is still from the original structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house is large but manageable \u2013 about 10,000 sq ft, with eight main bedrooms, vaulted ceilings, and fireplaces in almost every room, surrounded by 23.9 acres of land,\u201d Whelehan says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great house for entertaining \u2013 fabulous around Christmas time \u2013 it\u2019s really atmospheric and cosy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The bathroom<\/p>\n

Unlike many sprawling homes, Cangort House has not been a money pit. \u201cMost of the upgrades to the house were aesthetic rather than structural. Some years we didn\u2019t spend a penny, and in others we had things done. We were lucky the house was left in good shape,\u201d says Whelehan.<\/p>\n

The decor is characterised by the couple\u2019s distinctive use of bold colours and eclectic pieces of statement furniture and art. \u201cWe peeled back to keep it simple, adding lots of bold colours into the rooms,\u201d Meagher says.<\/p>\n

Despite being mostly monotone when they first moved in, the couple stumbled on some 80s kitsch. \u201cOur upstairs bathroom had an avocado-coloured jacuzzi and a pink carpet \u2013 it was like Dynasty on steroids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The organic pool<\/p>\n

They sourced a vintage freestanding roll top bathtub locally and an Edwardian rectangular washstand, creating an elegant space with dark textures. If the house looks somewhat different inside, there\u2019s one thing missing throughout.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually don\u2019t own curtains. I remember when we moved in, we were asked about curtains and how many we would need, but we never got any,\u201d she says. The effect is that the rooms look a lot more open.<\/p>\n

As you enter into the hall, there\u2019s access to the dining room, with its soaring ceilings, ornate cornicing, solid wood floors, marble fireplace and mullioned windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe library is lined with bookshelves and leads into a bright, navy-painted drawing room with an Adam-style fireplace,\u201d Whelehan says. \u201cThe panelled sitting room, with its view of the pool, is our everyday cosy space, while two adjoining studies have made working from home easy.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The entrance hall<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recently refurbished the kitchen. It\u2019s the epicentre of the house with a black-and-white marble floor, solid wood cabinetry, a large island with double Belfast sink, Smeg fridge, Stanley Rangemaster and a solid-fuel Stanley stove.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spend most of our time in the kitchen and the TV room, which has a UFO-style light from Willie Duggan Lighting \u2013 diffused bulbs that give off a soft, modern glow,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The decor is eclectic across the house. \u201cI picked up a lot of pieces in Notting Hill in London. The UK has some great furniture for big houses. Some design pieces include the Chesterfield chairs in the bedroom and a chair that looks like a giant cowboy boot in the hallway- a gift Whelehan gave his wife for Christmas.<\/p>\n

The house itself has lots of character too. \u201cThe details are what make this place, like the fireplace halfway up the stairs, and the little corridor underneath it.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The kitchen<\/p>\n

Zoned heating helps to keep costs down. \u201cI did a fair bit of work myself. In the hallway I did double skirting, where you put one skirting board above another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2020, during Covid, we built a basketball court, but in general, we don\u2019t have to do too much. Obviously there\u2019s always something to do in these houses, but the robo lawn mower helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have zoned heating, so you can heat the kitchen, TV room and rooms we use, and then [leave] the other part of the house,\u201d Whelehan says. \u201cObviously when guests come, we do the whole lot \u2013 it\u2019s oil fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite their passion for the house, it\u2019s time to move on. \u201cWe\u2019re very happy and very comfortable here, but our three children have flown the nest. It needs to be enjoyed by lots of people,\u201d Meagher says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 14 stables; a walled garden; an infirmary; and there was an old church on the grounds, but it was blasted by storm Eowyn in January.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house is right in the middle of Ireland. It\u2019s close to Shinrone, which has a bakery, a primary school, an indoor tennis club and lots of amenities, and Birr and Roscrea,\u201d Whelehan says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people avoid the Midlands, but we\u2019re an hour from Limerick, Shannon, and just an hour and 15 minutes to the Red Cow in Dublin. We\u2019re literally in the heart of Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes seeks \u20ac1.65m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This couple weren\u2019t afraid to put a colourful stamp on former retreat of novelist Thomas Campbell Black Asking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,898],"class_list":{"0":"post-20007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-latest-news-ticker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}