Luxurious life in Limavady

Welcome to Roe Valley's best kept secret and the haunt that has some of the world's richest and most powerful people flocking too. The Drenagh Estate on Limavady's Dowland Road has just started offering exclusive luxury stays on it's 1,000 acre parkland and has proved to be a hit with the high end market. Just last month a group of US clients flew in via private jet to spend a week in Limavady Borough as exclusive paying guests at the Georgian house, which dates back to the 17th century. An indoor cinema, cricket pitch, gardens, woodlands, a pool and spa facilities plus an entourage of staff are just some of the attributes of the luxury house which has clients forking out thousands to stay.

"Bill Clinton could have come to stay here and no one would know," says Drenagh owner Conolly McCausland," That's the way we want to keep it, totally exclusive. That type of client wants to be sure that is what they are getting when they come here."

The estate is currently featured on a number of specialised luxury travel agencies priced at a cool 14k, a minimum of eight people, for a seven day stay . With exclusive use of the entire estate which can accommodate up to 20 guests in 10 rooms, all with their own bathrooms, plus other organisable activities such as horse riding, archery, cricket and quad biking to name but a few, Mr McCausland believes on only providing the best for his high-profile clientele.

"As for activities the first and easiest is cricket; it's right out there on the doorstep. There's also croquet on the lawn, archery - we can organise pretty much anything."

Mr McCausland continued: "The Americans who stayed here organised helicopters to come and take them to the Giants Causeway , then I believe they were dropped off in Bushmills on the way back for lunch. "

"If you are going to come somewhere like Drenagh those are the things that people expect. I haven't even mentioned things like mobile broadband but it's there, and it's what people expect."

"If you picked Drenagh up and put it in St Tropez you'd be paying 100,000 a week for it but we are not, we are in sunny Ulster," laughs Conolly.

Unfortunately Drenagh is not open to the public. The gates are permanently locked albeit letting clients, staff and of course the McCausland's in and out.

"We are not a bed and breakfast, we are not a guest house or a hotel," explains Conolly, "We provide self catering accommodation but have a list of preferred cooks, drivers and we need to be able to manage that. No one can turn up as and when they please."

However plans are now in the making to hold a number of events at the mutli-million pound estate, which is also open to wedding bookings, with packages starting at around 7,500.

"What we are trying to do is do something around the seasons, a spring, a summer, autumn and winter event. Whether it's going to be a fair or a festival. And it will probably have to be ticketed. And of course we have our weddings."

"We've various different options available for people ranging from the incredibly expensive, where the whole place shuts down and you get it to yourself. We provide a pavilion marquee, which holds up to 500 people, that starts at around 30,000. Some people thinks that's a drop in the ocean but I know three or four weddings that have been in the locality that were in excess of 250k."

The breathtaking estate, which includes a number of large garden areas, has been occupied by one family continuously since the late seventeenth century. During that time there have been two principal dwelling houses, the first was known as Fruithill and the present one, Drenagh. Very little remains of Fruithill but Drenagh is still the main residence of the McCausland family. As well as gardens, woodlands and a cricket pitch, Drenagh is also a large organic farm with both lowland and upland holdings. The farm is run as a joint venture between J A Humphrey Farms, Castleroe and Drenagh Farms Limited.

"We haven't been doing it (providing stays) that long. Our first visitors were last year. A Conservative MP came actually, because of the cricket pitch. He brought his whole family here and basically took the whole house."

People like myself who own big houses and a small family, I mean I have four kids, we can't possibly fill the place. It's big and was built in the days where people had a staff of twenty people. So with all that space it just seems like a sensible thing to do."

Conolly continued: "There's maybe one other place in the whole of Ireland that provides what we provide. You'll not find somewhere else where you will have absolute exclusivity for your family and your guests and that's what we want to give."