Taking space to new levels

Herbert Rd Bray €545,000:As housing developments go, there is something distinctly old-school about Pemberton, off Herbert Road in Bray, Co Wicklow.

There are 29 houses (one of which sold last November for €537,000) which are detached and accessed by short drives.

These are no mansions, but there is a sense of privacy and once inside number 11, on sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €545,000, there is no sense of being overlooked.

A 40-minute drive from Dublin and two minutes from the M11/M50, Pemberton is 20 minutes from Bray Dart station and a three-minute walk from the nearest bus stop, serviced by several routes.

Its accessibility seems at odds with a Wicklow address, but it is a lot closer to the capital than geography suggests.

Number 11 is currently occupied by a family of four and the five-bedroom house gives them more than enough space.

The ground floor – in so much as it can be described as such – is divided into two by means of a set of steps leading from the entrance mezzanine down to the living areas, and up to the bedrooms and main bathroom.

As a result, the house feels significantly larger than its 188sq m (2,021 sq ft).

The livingroom, towards the front of the house, has a gas fire and solid wood floors, and leads back into the dining room which, in turn, leads into the sun room. This is off the kitchen at the back of the house.

But it is the impressively high ceilings in the livingroom that are the real show pony.

The sunroom was converted from a conservatory. It leads out to a south-facing deck and small garden – ideal for catching the sun and avoiding the lawn mower.

The tiled kitchen is of average size but with good proportions and there are solid wood cabinets. Up the steps, one of the five bedrooms is used as an office. The next bedroom, also a single (with space for a double bed but not much else), has a built-in wardrobe, and the next is a double room with en suite WC and shower.

Now the stairs come into play, and the top level is the location of the main bedroom – with fitted wardrobes and en suite with power shower – and the last bedroom, a single with vaulted ceiling.

Number 11 Pemberton does not look, from the outside, like a five-bedroom home but within space opens up via access to steps and in the form of ample storage beneath stairs and in fitted wardrobes.

11 Pemberton, Herbert Rd, Bray, Co Wicklow

Description: Five-bedroom house in small development off the M11/M50 with small back garden and ample parking

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald