Driving up to Wells House in Co Wexford, you can’t help but gush. The grounds are stunning and impeccably kept, the driveway has a grandeur that you only see in films, and the house gives you goosebumps. It’s a Victorian building that has been brought to life with events that run right throughout the year, from summer barbecues to Santa visits.

Just a few years ago though, the scene at Wells House was a very different story – imagine flooding, overgrown walkways and terraced gardens that couldn’t be found under the weeds. It seemed that its destiny was to become an old ruin.

However, in a story that has more twists and turns than a dramatic episode of Downton Abbey, Uli and Sabina Rosler were determined this wasn’t going to be the case. Although it is Uli’s beloved family home, it is Sabina who has a unique passion for the property that is evident in her every sentence.

“When I came here in the ’90s to be with Uli, I fell in love with Wells House straight away. It is just so beautiful, and there is a tranquillity here that can’t be found anywhere else. As soon as I started living here in 1996, I started working with Uli’s father who was running a chalet business, while Uli ran the 350-acre farm. It was a fantastic time.

“Uli and I originally met in Gurteen Agricultural College, but we both went our separate ways, married other people and had children. It was only years later when we were single again that we met and, this time, I wasn’t letting him get away twice. So there I was with my daughters in this fantastic house with my new husband and my new job.

“It was such a great time at Wells House, families used to stay right throughout the summer, we had a sports hall, a bowling alley, even a restaurant for them to eat in after they came up from the beach in the evening. Uli’s father, Gerhard, had such a passion for the property, having left Germany in the ’60s to buy it, and his enthusiasm was infectious.”

When the Celtic Tiger hit though, things changed dramatically. Uli says: “As a business, we could no longer compete with the big hotels offering midweek deals. On top of that, my father was getting old.”

When Gerhard Rosler passed away in 1996, the future of Wells House looked bleak.

“I continued farming the land,” says Uli. “However, the property was my mother’s and it simply wasn’t our place to do as we wished.” And so, as it progressed into more and more disrepair, Uli’s mother decided it was time to sell up. A local who had big plans for a modern hotel was keen to move in on the property.

“I’ll never forget the first helicopter landing on the roundabout outside,” says Sabina, as her eyes well up with tears.

“It was just heartbreaking to think this beautiful period property would become a faceless, clinical hotel.”

However, the bubble was just about to burst on the boom and, in the end, the sale fell through. As the bills mounted and the house needed more and more work, Uli’s mother changed her mind on the future of the house.

“It actually happened overnight,” says Uli. “One day we thought it was all going to be sold, the next it was ours.”

“We had such big plans for what we wanted the house to become, and suddenly these dreams started to feel like a real possibility,” says Sabina. “We really wanted to open the house to the public, to bring it back to it’s heyday when it was enjoyed not just by our family, but by families across Wexford and beyond.”

However, the difference between the dream and the reality was vast.

“At that stage, the place was a ruin. You couldn’t see the terraced walls or even the fountain out the back of the house. On top of that, a lot of the furniture had been auctioned around the time that we thought the house was being sold, but we were intent that we wanted to open it to the public.”

As Sabina eyes become alive, you can see that she was the driving force behind the project. “I was determined. I approached Tony Ennis, a business mentor, and applied to Wexford Local Development for grant aid for a feasibility study. This really helped us focus. It was such a huge task to re-open the house to the public, but we knew we had to concentrate on five key elements of the house – the history, the playground, the visitor centre, restoration of the woodland walk and the terraced garden. And we had ambitious plans to do it all in nine months.”

Funding was granted from Wexford Local Development company and despite the tight timeframe, it started to look possible until a phone call came from the bank.

“They wouldn’t match the funding. I was devastated,” says Sabina. “It was like hurdle after hurdle.

“The next day though, I was back in fighting mode. I was like a bull, determined to get another investor. We had already pumped €80,000 of the farm’s income into this project, we simply didn’t have a choice, we had to keep going.

“My suckler herd was nearly diminished,” laughs Uli.

Sabina plagued a local business man to invest in Wells House, ringing him every day.

“When my sister-in-law agreed to come on board, he did too, and suddenly we were back in business.

“We had people working day and night for weeks coming up to the opening. Workers arrived at five in the morning, while others didn’t go home until 11 at night. It rained right throughout that spring but Uli and I never took a day off. A week before, a pipe burst and the roundabout out front was under water, but we just didn’t stop.”

The enthusiasm of people in the area kept the couple going and there was great excitement in Gorey.

“People had been driving past Wells for years and now they were going to get the opportunity to see it in all its glory. Our Irish curiosity can be a great selling point,” laughs Sabina.

On the morning of the opening, the sun shone for one of the first times that summer.

“It was a fantastic day. We went from a rundown period house a year before to over 1,000 cars on the lawn. There was puppet shows, archery, entertainment and, of course, tours of the house and the historical woodland walk. People could learn all about the local history, the Doyne family who lived here for generations as well as Daniel Robertson, the famous architect who designed the house.”

In fact, the day was such a success that Uli and Sabina celebrate its “birthday party” every year, with its second birthday celebrated just last weekend.

“Despite all the hurdles, we feel there is a real bright future for Wells House and Gardens,” smiles Sabina.

www.wellshouse.ie/