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A reception room at Ballymurrin Lodge, Kilbride, Co Wicklow

Sparky and Deirdre at Ballymurrin

One of the bedrooms is currently used as a home office

The exterior of the house at Ballymurrin

The open-plan kitchen at Ballymurrin

The dining area at Ballymurrin which leads in to the reception room

An aerial view of the grounds at Ballymurrin

Ballymurrin Lodge, Kilbride, Co Wicklow. Asking price: €1.4m. Agent: Sherry FitzGerald (040 466 466)

W ho would have known that one of Ireland’s most popular quality gloss magazines was produced from a poky box bedroom in Dublin city centre’s North Strand?

Garden Heaven magazine caused quite a stir when it was launched in 2002 on the back of the popular RTÉ TV show of the same name. Irish gardeners, used to functional garden periodicals, were taken aback by the chunky high-gloss package infused with glamour, quality photography and crafted with a distinctly artistic lean.

Sparky and Deirdre at Ballymurrin

The magazine was founded and produced by Deirdre Barry, who also gave the popular TV show its name. The former art student had assisted her mother Tish, of Tish Barry Productions, when Tish and Ted Dolan launched the Garden Heaven TV series in 2000. Deirdre weighed in on stills photography, artwork and other tasks.

The exterior of the house at Ballymurrin

Presented by Helen Dillon, Brendan Sayers and of course, the inimitable Dermot O’Neill, who sadly passed away earlier this month aged just 58, the series ran for five years. But the magazine would outlast it by more than a decade.

“Two years in they decided to do a magazine and mum suggested I do it. Initially I thought, ‘gardening, no way!’ But then I had a look at Gardens Illustrated magazine and I began to see the artistic potential. I did everything from my box bedroom at my home in the North Strand. It turned out to be something I really enjoyed.”

One of the bedrooms is currently used as a home office

Deirdre is the daughter of the late Tony Barry, director of the well-known TV series The Riordans and Strumpet City, while mum Tish worked in current affairs before breaking out to set up her own independent production company.

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“I grew up on Three Rock Mountain and I was pony and horse mad,” says Deirdre. She studied Environmental Design and Fine Art and developed an interest in eventing. After college Deirdre went into graphic design and ran an events company.

“Garden Heaven magazine was the most amazing job I ever had,” she says. “It was everything that I loved — nature, the outdoors, graphic design, and photography, all rolled into one.”

But feeling bogged down by the commercial side of the operation, she sold the magazine in 2006. “I decided to take a year out. I had bought a lodge with land at Ballymurrin in Co Wicklow. I needed a break and wanted to get back to some eventing. The mare I had was in foal and I had acquired another mare which also went into foal. Before I knew it, I had six or seven horses. I had to look at a way to make this financially viable. So I started a livery business.”

An aerial view of the grounds at Ballymurrin

In addition to her eventing horse Sparky (now retired), she also keeps three cats, four dogs, four sheep, two pigs called Bubble and Squeak (who have their own TikTok channel) and a goat called Pinkie. Ballymurrin Lodge is a four-bedroom home an elevated 16 acres with 14 stables attached. Deirdre developed her equestrian business to include two mare and foal stables, a covered six-horse Odon walker with tiled rubber flooring and a 62 x 32 metre floodlit, all-weather arena with a sand and fibre surface. There’s a lunge pen which she added, a tack room, a feed room, and a rug room, as well as a wash bay with an equine solarium. The land has not been over-fertilised or sprayed and is therefore good for horses.

The open-plan kitchen at Ballymurrin

At the house she replaced uPVC windows with traditional versions. The outside of the house was rendered with white cement. Smoked oak floors were added to most of the rooms.

She’s also put her artist’s eye into perfecting the lodge’s interiors. The entrance hall is split-level and leads to the sitting room with a big window. You can see Brittas Bay and Arklow Bay in the distance, as the land slopes down to the east here. There’s a Charnwood wood-burning stove here and a grey marble fireplace. The dramatic navy-blue walls combine well with the neutral colours of the furnishings.

The dining area at Ballymurrin which leads in to the reception room

Double doors lead to the open-plan dining/kitchen area. Here different types of wood are set off by fresh white walls and a lack of clutter. There’s storage in the pantry, the back hall, and the utility area.

The bathroom was transformed with a free-standing bath from a salvage yard which she re-enamelled, vintage toilet and sink and monochrome tiled floor.

“I don’t like the show-house look. I’ve tried to achieve something with more character,” she says.

The house has a big attic which could be renovated, and Deirdre points out that the hall is particularly wide and would fit a stairs leading to the attic. Now she’s phasing out her equestrian business and going full circle, back to develop her art with plans to work on etchings. Sherry FitzGerald in Wicklow seeks €1.4m.

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