Spacious family home with extensive views across Dublin Bay

Few houses coming on the market in the greater Dublin area this month will have better sea views from the back garden than a four-bedroom semi in Blackrock for which the local Terry Halpenny estate agency is seeking £650,000 (€825,330)-plus in a private treaty sale.

The house is at 21 Maretimo Gardens East, a 1930s cul-de-sac located high above the DART line, off the old road out of Blackrock heading towards Monkstown and D·n Laoghaire. Houses on one side of the cul-de-sac overlook Dublin Bay, although not all have the same commanding sea views because of their positioning and the lie of the land.

This house, however, has one of the best views: stepping out on the terrace-style back garden is like wandering on to the high deck of a ship.

The area of land immediately below the garden, running down the the DART line, is not included in the sale, but is governed by a convenant preventing any building on it.

With about 1,800 sq ft of accommodation, it is a good-sized family home in good order following recent refurbishment and redecoration. There's a fresh, simple feel to the decoration, beginning with the newly sanded, original floorboards in the hall. There is gas central heating, and the property was rewired some years ago.

The gardens, front and rear, have been newly landscaped and planted.

Downstairs, there are interconnecting reception rooms on one side of the hall; the front room has a modern marble fireplace, and the rear has an original tiled fireplace. A door from the back room opens out to the rear garden.

Across the hall, there is a small front-facing reception room, ideal as a study or den. The fitted kitchen at the back of the house has the advantage of the sea views. Plumbing is in place for a downstairs toilet, but this room has not been fitted out.

Upstairs, there are three double bedrooms and a smaller bedroom; the rear-facing bedrooms have wide views of Dublin Bay. Three of the four bedrooms have fireplaces. The family bathroom has not yet been refurbished.

On account of its cul-de-sac location and peaceful residential character - many of the houses have been in the same family ownership for a long time - Maretimo Gardens East continues to attract intense interest whenever houses come up for sale. It's well removed from the busyness of Blackrock and is spared the traffic and parking problems affecting several residential roads in the area. Yet is it within very short walking distance of all Blackrock's facilities, including the DART station.