Testing the water at Sandycove

With a reputation as good as master builders Strain and Crampton, Sorohan's latest housing development in Sandycove, Co Dublin, is likely to prove an early sell-out.

Joint agents Hamilton Osborne King and Allen & Townsend will be taking bookings this weekend at Elton Court , which is accessed off Castlepark Road, directly opposite Mackey's garden centre. The 2.3-acre site has a comprehensive landscaping programme - a particular signature of Sorohan developments.

Prices start at £390,000 €495,200) for 37 three and four-bedroom terraced houses. Around 10 of the units have been pre-sold, mostly to locals trading down from larger houses in the area. Some early buyers have already moved in.

Second-generation craftsmen employed by Sorohan have produced a superb standard of finish on the Elton Court scheme. Oak and honed marble floors, solid ash internal doors and skirtings, cedar decking and top-of-the-range gold-plated bathroom fittings make an immediate impact.

Exteriors are yellow brick and render, with deep tiled porches and Chinese slate paving. Windows throughout are solid teak. The gardens are fully planted and come with a timber storage shed.

In the majority are 28 three/four-bedroom terraced houses of 1,330 sq ft, priced from £465,000 €590,430). End houses start at £485,000 €615,820). There are two layouts in this price range. In one, the front sittingroom has an attractive stone fireplace, oak flooring and an unusual curved wall, breaking up the rectangular look of the traditional modern livingroom.

A magnificent L-shaped kitchen/diningroom at the back of the house opens out to a large cedar deck and a neat lawn. Kitchen units are white, with a choice of planked timber or granite worktops and a white enamel double sink. Both kitchen and dining area floors are honed marble in warm ecru tones.

The houses are three-storey, with an impressive main bedroom and en suite bathroom on the top floor. In this style, each bedroom comes with an en suite bath or shower room and both layouts include a substantial balcony off a second-floor bedroom. Buyers can opt to have one of the double bedrooms divided into two single rooms, creating a four-bedroom house. A second house style at the same price is more traditional, with a marble fireplace in the oak-floored sittingroom and the kitchen at the garden end of the kitchen/diningroom. The bedrooms have good quality fitted wardrobes; there is a family bathroom and the two larger rooms are en suite.

There are seven 950 sq ft three-bedroom terraced houses priced from £390,000 €495,200). Although smaller overall, the sittingrooms are a good size, with oak floors and a marble tiled kitchen/diningroom. Doors open to a good-sized cedar deck overlooking a communal garden.

The main bedroom has an en suite tiled in cream marble, bedroom two is a double and the third single bedroom has been decorated as a child's room in the showhouse. Tthere is one very large 1,700 sq ft four-bedroom house with a huge wraparound deck and lawn at the back. The price tag is £750,000 €952,300).

The landscaping and paved areas surrounding the houses are finished with typical Sorohan attention to detail. Parking areas are sand-coloured tarmacadam with brick borders and Chinese slate paths edge the neatly planted front gardens. Common garden areas, which are planted with mature trees and flowering shrubs, will be maintained by a management company.