Generous, bright family home in D5

This large, friendly house, full of light and bright colours, gives an immediate sense of the lively home it was to the Lappin family for 41 years. Built in 1947, Eileen and John Lappin bought from the original owner when they moved with their family to 716

Howth Road in 1974. They reared a family of six there, with grandparents living in a granny flat added to the side of the house. Paul Lappin, one of the six offspring, remembers Ashleigh as “a busy house, always something going on, great for parties and at Christmas”.

Ashleigh is a generous house too, with nothing mean about its proportions or its solidly reassuring structure. On a 0.75-acre site with a 200ft (60m) long garden to the rear, it has 282sq m (3,035sq ft) of floor space, inclusive of the granny flat. There are five bedrooms, three reception rooms, kitchen/breakfastroom/den and conservatory. The adjoining flat has two bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom. Agent Property Team is asking €975,000.

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Though a new owner is likely to modernise the kitchen, and redecorate to taste, Ashleigh is in lovingly cared for and ready-to-move in condition. The diningroom especially has a lot of style and grace, along with many original and added features typical of the rest of the house. A bay window lights up a marble fireplace with distinctive inset and hearth tiles. The polished pine floor and eye-catching panelled wallpaper are repeated elsewhere. There is kitchen access from all of the ground floor rooms.

A resplendent, five-door Aga sits in a tiled inset in a kitchen with timber fittings, cork floor, worktop with marble inset and skylight for added light. The small living/family room, which opens into the conservatory, has a brick fireplace, pine floor and panelled wallpaper. The conservatory itself, added 30 years ago and semicircular in shape, takes full advantage of garden views.

The drawing room has an interesting marble fireplace and veranda to the front. An overhead, first floor bedroom has a balcony, as well as built-in wardrobes and vanity unit. The main, front facing bedroom has a bay window, walk-in wardrobe and en suite. Three bedrooms are to the front, two to the rear.

The garden has been much appreciated through the years, and it shows. A paved patio gives way to a great, spongy swathe of lawn around and in which there are high, old trees, hedging, hydrangeas and more. Towards the end there is a secret garden, completely hidden at its end by a 30ft high hedge of evergreens and with a touch of magic about it.

The front garden has a willow tree and parking for several cars.