Episode 2
Stradbally, Co Laois
Tiktok star Maryrose Simpson’s Nana left her a three bedroom corner house on the main street in Stradbally, where their family have lived for five generations. Maryrose’s father died when she was twelve and she treasured every detail of his family home. But lockdown delays and spiralling prices push her to make hard choices and radical changes in the building. The end result is a thoroughly modern home and office base for her online career. And all within a lovingly restored exterior which reinvigorates the historic streetscape.
Series Information
The Great House Revival returns with a whole new generation of budding restorers and ruinous wrecks. This year’s lineup reflects social media’s fascination with restoration: the cast are younger and their planned finishes are all the more contemporary and hashtag-happy. Projects range from a hulking ivy-covered mill in Co Louth and a castle on the verge of collapse in Co Wexford, to a house inherited from Nana, complete with her psychedelic furnishings, in Co Laois. Also featured is a barn in Co Galway, a Victorian villa on the banks of the Lee in Co Cork and a pub on the border in Co Monaghan. The homeowners face two years of construction shutdowns, lockdown-pregnancies and cost hikes but battle through to create six utterly original homes.