Dalkey redbrick with large gardens for €6.25m

A light-filled period house on two-thirds of an acre offers privacy and potential at one of Dalkey's top addresses. Eivlín Rodenreports

A late Victorian detached house on two-thirds of an acre in Dalkey has a gorgeous garden tucked away behind high hedges - and planning permission to build a bungalow in part of the grounds.

Moytura, on the corner of Saval Park Road and Barnhill Road, has an AMV of €6.25 million prior to auction through Lisney on March 1st.

The 418sq m (4,500sq ft) six-bedroom house is built in Tudor style with a lot of Arts & Crafts detailing.

Its many attractive features include an airy easy-to-manage layout. It's full of light throughout, thanks to a wonderful part-glazed timber porch, matching square bay windows with French doors and large gently arched casement windows right round the ground floor.

As was common in many houses of this period, there is no basement and all the livingrooms are ranged around a wide hall.

The three reception rooms are lovely, well-proportioned rooms, teeming with light and each with a different fireplace - one decorative white marble, one unusual art nouveau and one with a simple period timber surround and marble and brass inset.

Period features abound in ceiling cornices, wooden panelling and Victorian tiling.

The kitchen can be accessed either from a few timber steps curving down from the drawingroom or directly from the hall. It is a great room, with a white Aga in the old chimneybreast and a contemporary fitted kitchen along two walls. French doors lead to the garden and pantry and utility off it. Beyond it is a fine 23ft long studio with an arched window, cosy wood-burning stove and a door to the garden.

The emphasis of the house is on comfort and the present owners have dotted nice pieces around it in a way that shows off both the space and the artefacts to their best advantage.

There is an old square-looking glass in one room, an attractive antique sideboard in the kitchen, understated horizontal landscapes under the kitchen presses.

On the return there is a suite comprising a good bedroom, study and bathroom which would be ideal as a private area for a grown-up child.

Upstairs, over two floors, good-sized bedrooms have been arranged to give maximum light and privacy. Several have original fireplaces.

There are three bedrooms on the first floor, two en suite, and two more, with a family bathroom, on the second floor; there is access from here to the attic floor, which has one room and a floored storage room under the eaves.

The house is enhanced by the garden, which wraps around it and there are many French doors opening onto it.

A lawn large enough for a tennis court, a wooded area with summer house, plenty of room for cars and a view towards the Mount Mapas Obelisk on Killiney Hill make this like a garden of childhood dreams.