Glorious garden and sylvan seclusion in Bray for €1.1m

The most striking aspect of an Edwardian redbrick a short walk from Bray town centre is its beautifully tended garden.

The gardener maintaining it points to a flowerbed in the middle of the lawn and a cluster of late-blooming dahlias. A bank of tall trees screens an area of glossy lawn that used to be a tennis court, and a tall old stone wall shelters the house.

The detached five-bedroom house has 246 sq m (2,648 sq ft) of space and retains most of its original period features – plasterwork, ceiling roses, deep coving on high ceilings, picture rails, dado rails, working shutters on bay windows.

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But new owners will want to modernise the house, especially at the back: the panel of bells in the kitchen is witness to the property’s Edwardian past.

The house has of course been updated over the years, but new owners will likely want to turn the old-fashioned kitchen, pantry, utility room, scullery, sunroom arrangement into a more fashionable open plan space.

Upstairs, they will also want to modernise old-fashioned bathrooms.

Braemar, on Killarney Road, Bray, a detached five-bedroom house, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald by private treaty for €1.1 million. The house is set well back from busy Killarney Road, a few minutes’ walk from Bray town hall. Granite steps lead up to the impressive front hall, with an ornate architrave at the foot of the stairs.

There are elaborate pediments over the doors of the two reception rooms on either side of the hall. The drawingroom on the right is bright, with tall box bay windows at the front and two windows at the side as well. The diningroom on the left has a tall curved bay window and also windows at the side. Both have open fireplaces with timber surrounds.

There’s a small study towards the back of the hall opening into a little sunroom with a door into the garden. The back hall and kitchen are tiled with old terracotta tiles.

Upstairs, there’s a toilet/ shower room and a separate bathroom on the return, and up a few more steps, five bedrooms, four of them doubles. The two bedrooms at the front of the house mirror the reception rooms below, both bright and dual aspect with tall windows at the front and side.

There’s plenty of space for parking in the gravelled front driveway.