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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 25 APRIL 2018 14 Feature Guinness ancestral home brewing up a storm THE castle Luggala is the fa- mous ancestral family home of the Guinness brewing family and is nestled away in the Irish Wicklow mountains. It has been on the market with a €28 mil- lion price tag for some time and recently began gaining Interna- tional appeal with interests from the likes of Tom Cruise and oth- ers. A who's who of luminaries has rocked up this magical wood- land setting which has provided the backdrop for many Holly- wood movies like Braveheart and the TV series, Tudors. A playground for the elite, the home has played host to Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, U2 and many royals from the house of Windsor. Currently it is the home of Garech Browne, the 78-year-old great, great, great, grandson of the founder of iconic Irish stout maker Arthur Guinness. With 27 bedrooms, 18 bathrooms, sprawling gar- dens, and plenty of stories to tell, this 5,000 acre estate, is located about 28 miles from Ireland's Capital, Dublin. Luggala ranks as one of the finest intact historic estates in Europe, and is likely to attract international potential buyers. Built in 1787 as a hunting lodge with its castellated battlements, it underwent a lengthy €6 mil- lion overhaul from 1996 to re- store the main house to its origi- nal Gothic glory, when it was originally built by the La Touche banking family. They modelled it on Straw- berry Hill, then an iconic home outside London. Ernest Guin- ness bought Luggala in 1937 and gave it as a wedding present to his daughter Oonagh on her marriage to Lord Oranmore. She gifted the property to her son Garech in 1970. It is now, how- ever, owned by a family trust. On entering this fairy-tale set- ting, what sets Luggala apart from other manor homes is its innate cosiness from the mo- ment you enter. The décor is distinctly Irish but with influ- ences from India, where the owner spends a good portion of his time with his wife of 36 years, Princess Harshad Purna Devi of Morvi, daughter of the last Ma- haraja of Morvi. The wall art includes work by Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Jack Yeats, Louis le Brocquy, Hughie O'Donoghue and Main- ie Jellet. Also involved was the famed English interior designer David Mlinaric, whose client list includes Sting and Eric Clapton amongst others. Luggala was most recently on the market for rent, seeking €22,000 per week. For that, one gets the use of a Rolls-Royce Sil- ver Wraith, a chef on hand, and musicians and singers if desired. As owner, one gets the chance to be the undisputed monarch of all that one surveys; a position of unquestioned privilege. Businessman and one of Mal- ta's only two resident billion- aires, Denis O'Brien was under- stood to be interested in buying the Luggala estate after a recent viewing but appeals have been made to the Guinness family to donate its ancestral home to the Irish State. It is understood there are at least a few serious offers from overseas currently on the table that would accommodate the present owner's annual oc- cupancy. However, to sell the house with non-vacant possession – a pro- viso allowing the current owner Browne to live there annually for a portion of the year – is likely to reduce the €28 million asking price substantially. But one can only dream of such a purchase. In fact, although it's hard to imagine, purchasing this property would cost the equiva- lent of buying 7,375,000 pints of Guinness. Journalist and Exante's Patrick J O Brien takes us inside Ireland's most expensive property where many Hollywood A-listers, royalty and political figures have shared many secrets and where he once met the King of Pop, Michael Jackson Journalist Patrick J O Brien in conversation with Jeff Buttigieg COO REMAX Mick Jagger and David Bowie at Luggala