Style, space and views in Delgany

The Gables, with its 401sq m (4,316sq ft) of floor space, is comfortably accessible, yet very definitely a family home. It’s 24 years since the vendors, with the late Stephen Manina as architect, built a house with everything they wanted for a growing family on a .75 acre site. Family now reared, they’re downsizing to a smaller house on a .25 acre portion of the site.

All of which leaves The Gables with a lush half acre of garden wrapped around three of its sides and views that sweep from the Sugar Loaf mountain to the sentinel, skyline trees of Soldiers’ Hill.

An integrated, self-contained apartment, with separate front entrance, adds to The Gables’ living options; it could house grandparents or earn an income. On two levels, the main house has five/six bedrooms (one is en suite and another currently in use as an office), three reception rooms, open-plan kitchen/dining/ sunroom, utility and two family bathrooms. Agent McGovern is asking €1.05m for the private treaty sale.

If the essence of The Gables’ style is distilled in the entrance hallway, where light spills from Velux windows and the flooring is oak, then there is an additional touch of flamboyance in the formal drawingroom. A high, vaulted and elaborately beamed ceiling adds drama , dado rails add interest, the fireplace has a high, wooden mantel and the window over the garden is especially large. A sunroom with pitched, wood- clad ceiling and oak flooring extends into the garden and is a bright, restful addition to the open-plan kitchen/diningroom area. The rustic style, Aga-centred and oak-floored kitchen has polished granite worktops and the dining area has hillside views. Also on the sprawling ground floor there is a small, escape-from-it-all family room with patio doors to the garden, an office/study and guest WC.

Three of the first-floor bedrooms have broad views of hill and field, with the best views from the en suite main bedroom. Two have Velux windows which, if you angle your head, give countryside views, and two are en suite. A bedroom at the gable end is in use as a home office.

Close enough to be part of Delgany, The Gables is also close to Greystones. It's a 40-minute drive from Dublin and the airport.