Hidden treasure near Dalkey village

A lovingly refurbished eight-bedroom house built in 1843 in a Tudor-style is for sale with a guide price of €2.65 million. Anne Dempsey reports.

Tudor House, Castle Street, Dalkey, Co Dublin, is a hidden treasure - a fine period home on 0.65 of an acre in the heart of Dalkey village.

It will be auctioned on October 15th with Sherry Fitzgerald inviting offers around €2.65 million.

Situated on an elevated site giving views over village rooftops to the sea, the house retains a great feeling of privacy due to its secluded location and mature walled garden.

It is a listed property whose history has been chronicled in the archives of Dalkey. Around 1843 its first owner, Dublin surgeon Richard Parkinson, bought Wolverton Castle, one of Dalkey's seven 17th century castles and used its granite boulders to construct Tudor House, which is currently run as a guest house. Massive oak beams for roof and floors were hauled by horse and carriage from Coolattin Woods in Wicklow. The house was completed in 1845, and by the turn of this century, was leased out as a preparatory school for the naval cadets in Portsmouth.

However, the property was in need of extensive repair when the present owners bought it 10 years ago. They embarked on a labour of love, reconstructing whole sections, setting up a joinery in-house to turn wood, sourcing period features and restoring the garden in sympathetic Victorian style.

At the same time, they created a handsome modern kitchen at garden level, and an equally impressive drawingroom at hall level and the main bedroom on first floor.

A decorative palette of plain colour - duck egg blue, mid-green, soft yellow, white and cream - are sympathetic to period and fabric.

The result of such painstaking restoration is a splendid and unusual family home with 557 sq m (6,000sqft) of accommodation spread over four floors. In total there are three reception rooms, eight bedrooms, seven shower/bathrooms and a large home office.

With family living space at garden level, formal rooms at hall level, first floor bedrooms, office and second floor bedrooms, this is a home designed to be fully used and enjoyed by family members.

Completely hidden from Dalkey's main street, the house is reached by a drive which curves round in front of its well-proportioned exterior, designed with Tudor influences and painted lemon. Granite steps lead up to the hall door.

Inside, the hall has a handsome staircase and is lit by a large stained glass window on mid-landing. The drawingroom continues to illustrate the calibre of the house. With easy couches grouped around a fine marble fireplace, space a-plenty remains for a splendid dining table and wall furniture.

Two shuttered sash windows overlook the front garden. Double doors lead out to a stone foundation - the floor of an original conservatory whose reconstruction would beautifully unify house and garden. A door from the inner hall also opens into the conservatory space.

Two en suite bedrooms at hall level could be converted back into family rooms if wished. Nearby is a narrow study with fitted shelves. Stairs carpeted in grey wool lead down to the garden level which has a hall, family room, kitchen, utility, toilet and good- sized storage room with outdoor access. The large family room has an original cast-iron fireplace with an oak mantelpiece, and doors to a side garden.

Pride of place goes to the very large kitchen which is distinguished by custom-built free-standing units in pine, painted a soft green and distressed to cracked glaze effect.

Inspired by the large manor house 18th and 19th century kitchens, core components such as work table and storage cabinets combine function with bags of style. There is also a Belfast sink, island unit and gas-fired range. A large refectory table in the centre of the room leads on to a cosy fireplace corner with easy chairs. Patio doors open to the rear garden.

There are four en suite bedrooms, one with a turret-walled balcony, and a family bathroom on the first floor. The main bedroom has intricate ceiling coving, a carved wood four poster bed, part panelled walls, skirting boards and window shutters in exposed pitch pine.

Easy chairs are grouped round a sandstone fireplace. An en suite shower room is top of the range, while the family bathroom has black and white floor tiles and a free-standing cast-iron bath.

The second floor has two further bedrooms with unusual panelled doors and sloping ceilings, a large well-fitted office and fully tiled shower room.

The gardens are spacious and peaceful. The gravelled drive in front of the house gives way to sloping lawns in a setting of mature sycamore, shrubs and hedging. There is a large side lawn with arched trellised entrance to the rear lawn with lily pond and south facing patio courtyard.