Secluded elegance in Foxrock for €2.75m

"I'm going to miss this house so much," says the owner of Mangerton, a large and lovely extended detached house on approximately half an acre, on Foxrock's leafy Westminster Road.

“I loved it from the first moment I walked in.” This was a good thing, as her husband had already bought it: “We’d been looking for a while, and we knew what we wanted. He rang me, said he’d seen this house, and thought he should bid on it. When I came, it was already ours, though they’d lit fires to make it welcoming.”

That was over 30 years ago. Since then the family and the house have grown, and Mangerton is still welcoming. It is set back from the road, with plenty of parking, and is screened with a front lawn, shrubs, hedges and tall trees, before the wide entrance with its black- and-white tiles invites you in.

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It is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €2.75 million. The owners added an extension for extra living and bedroom space, which blends well with the original house. There are seven bedrooms and approximately 435sq m (4,680sq ft) of accommodation, plus a rebuilt Hamptons-style coach house used as a gym and games room, that could be reworked as guest/staff accommodation.

Five reception rooms

“Rearing four children here has been a pure pleasure,” the owner says, describing how the five reception rooms can take care of everyone’s needs, no matter what their life stages.

Her favourite room is a toss-up between the sunroom off the kitchen, and the comfortable garden room to the rear of the house.

There’s also an elegant diningroom and connecting drawingroom with two fine Adams-style fireplaces and a bay window to the front.

Add to this the secluded back garden, with patio, lawns and two atmospheric wooden sheds (one a highly salubrious dog house), and you’re spoiled for choice.

Informal and elegant

The seven bedrooms are all of a good size and are laid out over the two upper floors. The master and one other are en suite, while the master also has a separate dressing area, super bay window, and en suite with jacuzzi bath.

“We’re country people really,” says the owner, and it’s a style that translates into a calming, peaceful atmosphere, and just the right balance between informal and elegant.

The kitchen has a conservatory-style breakfast area at one end, and a well-kitted out business end, with huge American-style fridge-freezer, Aga and kitchen island at the other.

Floored in American oak parquet, it’s a gorgeous spot to while away a sunny weekend morning – or organise a family out the door and off to the nearby schools during the week.

It is well-maintained and nicely thought-out, and for those with a large family and the resources to match, there would be little left to do but move in.