Seaside Victorian: a light-filled four-bed next to Bray Head

Realt-na-Mara has history and a great deal of latter day charm. The two are not unconnected. Vendor Elaine Bradley has lived in Realt-na-Mara for 22 appreciative and attentively caring years, buying it as “an absolute wreck with a bath falling through the floor” and, little by little “remodelling the rear and bringing the whole house back to a family home” while rearing two children.

She has loved living in Realt-na-Mara, loved being part of the six-house Fontenoy Terrace which is, she says, “a great little enclave with lots of creativity”.

Realt-na-Mara has earned its keep creatively from time to time too, being occasionally rented the directors of TV series such as Vikings and Penny Dreadful. Life changes and children grow up and Bradley is moving on.

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British army

As seafront locations go, Realt-na-Mara's is enviable. In a cul-de-sac at the end of Bray's seafront, at the foot of Bray head, it directly faces the sea from the end of a long, gravelled driveway.

The terrace, a protected structure, was built in 1847 to house British army soldiers in need of rest and recreation.

The remodelled Realt-na-Mara has four bedrooms, two reception rooms, a kitchen cum breakfastroom and an enclosed rear garden. The floor area covers 146sq m (1582sq ft) and agent Hunters is asking €695,000 for the private treaty sale.

With white and stripped wood the predominant colours, this is a relaxing house with a great deal of light.

Bradley’s aim to “keep everything as original and natural as possible” is obviously successful in white-painted stone kitchen walls and wood panelling throughout, in timber floors, ornate support beams between the formal reception rooms, stripped internal doors and working shutters, period fireplaces and a rear garden with vegetable patch and plum tree producing a “ridiculous amount of fruit”.

Wide timber floors

The interconnecting drawing and diningrooms have wide plank timber floors and high ceilings with, in the front-facing drawingroom, a period fireplace and sea views. The rear diningroom has cleverly built-in shelves and overlooks the garden.

White painted stone walls make a definite style statement in the kitchen/breakfastroom. Wall and floor units are hand-crafted, and there is a Belfast sink, wooden counter top and a Rayburn cooker.

The sound of waves on the shoreline creates a peaceful mood in the front, main bedroom where the ceiling is high and the fireplace a cast-iron original. There is a second, front-facing bedroom, the others are to the side and rear. The family bathroom is on the first floor landing, as is a Stira to a floored attic.

The rear garden is a gem. Surrounded by high, white walls, it has a tiled sitting area and stone wall supporting a raised terrace where there are rose bushes, peonies and daisies as well as a vegetable patch producing parsley, tomatoes and more.