BALLYBRITTAS:

Ballybrittas is a quintessential Irish village offering all the essentials for family living. There are schools, a post office, shops, 2 pubs, service station an acclaimed restaurant and other stores all combining to create a relaxing and elegant country atmosphere which could almost make one forget that the outside world is just at your doorstep. It is no wonder that Ballybrittas has for centuries attracted the very finest homebuilders with many of the nations most spectacular stately homes including Glenmalire, Gracefield, Mount Henry, Woodbrook, Rath House, and Graigavern all in the shade of the village. You too can join that long list of eminent residents with a handcrafted home of your own in Graigavern Lodge.

SHOPPING:

It is no faint boast when we say some of the best shopping to be found anywhere is within 15 minutes of your new home. Ireland’s largest regional retail shopping centre, Whitewater will open in Spring 2006. Already some breath taking names have been announced for this 320,000 Sq ft. shoppers paradise. The anchor tenants will be Debenhams and Marks and Spencers and the over 55 retailers will include such high street icons as Coast, Karen Millen, Oasis, Ladybird, Bodyshop, & Virgin. Perhaps even more exciting is the new Chic outlet centre due to open in Spring 2006 just 10 minutes away on the motorway to Kildare Town. Developed by The Value Retail Corporation who operate similar centres in London, Paris, Munich, Cologne and Milan, the Kildare Village centre is heralded as designer brands at guilt reducing prices. There will be 50 designer outlets in the village and whilst no brand names have yet been released all their other centres boast heavyweight labels such as Boss, Armani, Burberry, Timberland, Calvin Klein, Dior, DKNY, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hillfiger and Versace. This together with excellent shopping in the local towns of Monasterevin, Portlaoise and Portarlington offers you everything you could possibly want to shop for.

SPA & HEALTH CLUB

Residents in Graigavern Lodge enjoy the privilege of being located just five minutes from one of the leading spas in the world. The 37,000 square foot “Heritage Spa & Health Club” may have cost over €10 million to build in 2005, but you can enjoy this amazing resort for a much more modest fee. The spa offers 20 treatment rooms including tepidarium (luke warm relaxing area), Hamam, two mud chambers, foot baths (gentle reflexology), steam bath, ice fountain, and an open-air hydrotherapy pool with water fountains for shoulder and neck massage. Cooling sensations are provided for by the multi-sensory experience showers, The signature ritual - The Heritage Spa Experience - takes place within a dedicated area allowing guests to enjoy up to three hours of complete indulgence, created around ancient bathing rituals. The health club offers a beautiful swimming pool, exercise rooms and state of the art fitness machines all with multichannel TV screens. There is also a floodlit walking track encircling the world class golf course.

FINE DINING.

Gourmands are extremely well catered for in the area. The Heritage offers a choice of four restaurants ranging from contemporary, French Mediterranean cuisine in “The Arlington” to “The Thatch Pub & Restaurant” a family-friendly restaurant, serving traditional Irish favourites. There are many exciting restaurants in the nearby towns of Portlaoise and Monasterevin and plans are well under way by one of Ireland’s leading celebrity chefs to open a high-class restaurant in Emo village. Even more convenient there is a quality oriental restaurant in Ballybrittas.

SCHOOLS:

There is an excellent selection of schools in the area with three primary schools within five minutes of your new home, ranging from the impressive 13 teacher National School in Killenard to the more intimate 4 teacher, 88 pupil school in Rath which enjoys a beautiful setting described by its headmaster as “as windy and open all the way to the Wicklow Mountains”. There are numerous secondary schools in nearby Portlaoise, Portarlington and Monasterevin which enjoy a superb bus service from the village removing the stress of the school run to further enhance your new hassle free life style.

KILLENARD:

The Heritage at Killeneard is Ireland’s newest worldclass golf hotel resort and spa. The Hotel overlooks the, Seve Ballesteros designed Championship Golf Course with a view worth travelling the globe. But don’t just take our word for it; “It will be capable of holding any event, even the Ryder cup” is how the legendary Sam Torrance, captain of the Winning European 2002 Ryder Cup team described it. Five lakes and a stream that meanders through the course brings water into play on 10 holes. 98 beautifully shaped bunkers and 7,000 trees adorn the landscape, which is very gently undulating without any climbing involved. Complimenting it is the Seve Ballesteros “Natural” Golf School, a unique teaching and practice facility using leading edge technology where you will be taught all the principles of the game especially in the short game for which Seve is renowned. Facilities include a 12-bay floodlit driving range with target greens and distance markers, three outdoor tee areas, a putting and pitching green, short game area and a swing room with video analysis facilities. The Seve Ballesteros “Natural” Golf School is only the third of it’s kind in the world, and the first in either the UK
or Ireland.

EMO COURT:

Covering fifty-five acres, that includes spreading lawns, marvellous statuary, leafy shrubs, a wealth of fine trees, a lake and a series of attractive walks, each with a different theme to explore. The focus of the gardens is a monumental neo-classical country house by the celebrated Irish architect James Gandon. Avenues of dignified Florence Court yews planted in Victorian times criss-cross broad stretches of lawn around the house. The great formal statues remain, including four depicting the seasons. Beyond statues of Persephone and Flora, a path brings the visitor down to the lake passing through a large collection of camellias on the way. The late eighteenth-century lake, some twenty acres in extent, has been reinvigorated in recent years and its perimeter is attractively planted with trees and shrubs, which look particularly lovely in autumn. The lake is a beautiful place to visit and spend time feeding its many and varied species of birds.