Cover Story

Pretty-in-pink modern Westmeath country home on market for €695,000

Cummerstown Lodge in Collinstown, Co Westmeath may look like a Georgian country pile with its stately sash windows and fanlight, but it was built in 2009 and finished to an excellent and eco-friendly standard

Cummerstown Lodge in Collinstown, Co Westmeath with its classic double-fronted, perfectly symmetrical facade, six-by-six sash windows and timeless front door with overhead fanlight

A trusted friend involved in the real estate business once confided that owning a country pile is akin to how most of us remember our first love: you’ll be mad about it, you’ll never forget it, but it will, ultimately, break your heart.

The challenge he referred to included all the aspects of a period country home that one would expect: draughts, mould, cold and a need for constant maintenance and potential costly renovation, and ...