Plant yourself in a sunny spot in Blackrock

A huge fir, golden in the autumn sun, graces the back garden of a house in Blackrock: it’s there as long as the owner, who has lived there her whole life, can remember, a gift to her mother after her parents bought the house in 1953, four years after it was built. The house has been expanded and modernised several times over the years and comes with a self-contained two-bedroom granny flat/au pair’s room at the side. But its chief attraction may be the 0.4-acre back garden, laid mainly in lawn.

Kenley, 7 Granville Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin, a 308sq m (3,325sq ft) detached four-bed, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €1.9 million. The house is in good condition, although there's potential for new owners to refurbish, even expand further. The house was re-roofed in 2000 and the windows double-glazed; the bathrooms and the kitchen were also modernised fairly recently.

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Kenley, 7 Granville Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin

There's plenty of potential in the 150ft by 70ft garden too says Irish Times garden expert Fionnuala Fallon: "This large, handsome town garden has a lot going for it including a bright, sunny terrace, plenty of available light, a feeling of seclusion, and some lovely mature trees to the rear.

“There’s also plenty of potential to develop the space further with the addition of more generous seasonal planting around the terrace next to the house and along the boundary hedge as well as some sort of focal point (a pergola, gazebo, garden room or office) towards the rear. Lovely as those mature trees are, I’d also consider getting a tree surgeon in to very gently crown lift some of the largest specimens to allow more light to filter through this part of the garden.

“Finally, with such a large, labour-intensive area of lawn to mow, what about turning some of it over into a pollinator-friendly, wildflower meadow with simple winding paths cut through it?”

Accommodation in the house includes a livingroom on the left of the front hall, leading into a sunroom with a quarry-tiled floor that opens into the garden. The kitchen/diningroom and a TV room also open onto the sandstone patio at the rear. Upstairs there are four double bedrooms, the main one with a marble-tiled en suite with a bath and shower. There are two small rooms used as studies and a fully-tiled family bathroom with a step-in shower.

The front door of the self-contained apartment at the side of the house opens into an open-plan kitchen/livingroom/diningroom. One of the two double bedrooms at the back opens into a terrace at the rear.

There’s loads of room to park in the front garden. Granville Road is off Newtownpark Avenue in Blackrock, close to the junction with the N11.