Rhoscolyn is an Edwardian house set well back from the busy Lower Glenageary Road, between the intersections for Silchester Park and the Upper Glenageary Road.
Hidden behind a high hedge to the front, which helps to dull the sound of traffic, the double-fronted granite with red-brick property has a welcoming hall, whose floorboards are painted in a warm slate blue, a colour its owner had admired in a friend’s house. It and the contrasting oriental-style rug laid atop it bring pops of colour into an oft overlooked space.
There’s a cosy sitting room to the left, a great den or playroom for the kids and across the hall is the living room, a lovely example of a classically decorated room, with squishy, linen-covered seating set around a black painted fire surround, with an inset Heat Design stove. It is far more atmospheric in real life than it appears in photographs. A pair of sash windows to the front wash the space in light and the room also benefits from light to the rear, through original glazed doors that lead through to a bright, living-dining-kitchen, an extension added in 1996 that is bright and airy thanks to lantern rooflight overhead. Its sitting area is warmed by a wood-burning stove set atop a flagstone hearth. The long room extends the width of the house and has glazing that frames views of the garden.
The kitchen, which was installed a decade ago, is U-shaped and has a small island cum breakfast bar. It is probably more compact than you might expect in a house that extends to 200sq m (2,152sq ft) and a possible reconfiguration of this area, which includes a good, scullery-size utility room and a covered side passage would give a larger space – even adding more glazing would better connect this space to the garden.
At almost 48m (160ft) long the lawned back is in a league of its own. It opens out to a wide timber decked area with white clematis, honeysuckle and an old climbing rose trailing overhead and adding beguiling visual and olfactory moods to this delightful space.
Steps lead down to the lawn, broken into different zones by flower beds and fruit trees that include a couple of apple trees, one cooking, one eating and a plum tree. There’s a purple flowering magnolia, a couple of Japanese acers and all manner of specimen shrub with raspberries and vegetable patches also in situ. Kids will covet the swings already hanging from mature trees and you could build some form of a tree house in one but already there is a chalet-like shed, painted a pretty cornflower blue, at the end of the garden that little ‘uns will want to lay claim to.
There is space to catch, morning, afternoon and evening sun, all within its private boundary walls. Beautifully maintained the current owner can recommend several people to help keep it that way, should the next owner be less green-fingered.
Upstairs, there are five double bedrooms, one on the return and four more on the first floor. These share the family bathroom and there is a guest wc downstairs.
The property is asking €1.25 million through agents Quillsen.
