Sunny secret garden in Sandycove

Bright and private, this four-bedroom house is within walking distance of Glasthule

A bright kitchen-cum-sun room and a well-planted 24m/80ft back garden are the most striking features of this house on Dundela Park in Sandycove, Co Dublin. The 1940s house, refurbished about 20 years ago, is a comfortable family home in a great location.

It’s near the corner with Elton Park, about a 10-minute walk from both the Forty Foot bathing place and the village of Glasthule, just around the corner from Fitzgerald’s pub and a 10- to 15-minute walk to Sandycove Dart station.

Number 7 Dundela Park, a 171sq m (1,841sq ft) four-bedroom house, is for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald, with an asking price of €845,000.

A square front hall opens to the left into a small book-lined study and to the right into the interconnecting drawingroom and diningroom. These both have timber-surround fireplaces, picture rails and ceiling coving. There’s a bay window in the drawingroom at the front, and sliding double doors divide this room from the diningroom, which, in turn, opens through glass-panelled doors into the sun room.

The kitchen, with blue-painted units, a range, pulley-operated ceiling clothes rack, tiled floor and Velux windows, is a bright, cosy space with a TV room just off it. There’s a utility room, too, and at the other side of the kitchen, sliding doors open into the sunroom, which opens on to the back garden.

Upstairs, off a small landing made bright by a tall stained-glass window, are four bedrooms – two singles and two doubles – the family bathroom and a separate toilet.

The very private back garden has an attractive old-fashioned feel. A path winds its way past mature trees and bushes, including magnolia and clematis,and the lawn leads to a kind of secret garden, entered through a bower. There’s also a pond, a garden bench and a shed. There’s good space for off-street parking in the front.

Dundela Park is a quiet road within easy walking distance of the increasingly busy and chic Glasthule, with its boutiques and restaurants, including two new ones in Carluccio’s and the Cookbook Cafe.

Frances O'Rourke

Frances O'Rourke

Frances O'Rourke, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about homes and property