Take a leaf from these two in Delgany

Tall Trees and Pine Haven are both comfortable detached family homes, each one sitting on an acre of land and with landscaped gardens

Tall Trees, a detached house in Delgany, has an almost rural feel to it: the house, on just over an acre of landscaped gardens, looks out onto farmland and fields. Its owners bought it just a few years ago and have completely refurbished it, making it into a striking modern home.

The 241sq m (2,595sq ft) three-bedroom house, is for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald for €795,000. The location explains why this house carries a lower sale price than the other similar-sized property featured here.

Tall Trees is on the far side of the N11 from Delgany, although you can drive to Greystones village in about 10 minutes on a road which travels under the carriageway. And there is a shop and pub about 1km away in Kilpedder, says the agent.

From the outside, the dormer bungalow-style house is unassuming. Inside, it’s a different story: there’s a huge kitchen/living/diningroom to the right of the front hall overlooking the back garden through a wall of windows. A utility room off it opens into a study. The up-to-the-minute kitchen was made by Wicklow kitchen designer Noel Dempsey and includes a Stanley range with a red-tiled splashback, a wooden-topped island and, of course, an American fridge. There’s also a cosy family room through an arch.

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Then there's the main bedroom on the other side of the hall: it's a large double with a wall of built-in wardrobes and two huge floor-to-ceiling mirrors. But the en suite off it, that opens into a large wet room, is the real talking point: it's fitted out with smart light grey stone tiles, has double sinks and a bath – and a wet room, with a rainfall shower, big enough for a Singing In the Rain dance routine.

Upstairs, one of the doubles has a door opening onto a roof terrace over the kitchen floored with astro turf. There are two more double bedrooms here and a stone tiled bathroom.

Sandstone paving surrounds the house outside, and there’s a large patio just outside the kitchen doors. Wide green lawns, bordered by trees and shrubs, sweep around the house from front to back. There’s also a large garden shed. The electric gates to the front are remote controlled.

Pine Haven, Bellevue Hill, Delgany
Description: House with fine views on an acre of garden full of surprises

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald

Pine Haven

The owners of a Delgany house with a wonderful garden filled with trees, shrubs, flowers and quirky surprises are aptly named: the property is owned by an artist called Jacques Jardin and his wife, Dolores, who have lived here for 26 years. They built it on part of what were the 12.5-acre grounds of Easton House, once the home of Count Koutouzoff Tolstoy – a descendant of the novelist – who lived in Delgany for more than 60 years until his death in 1981.

Pine Haven, a detached 232sq m (2,500sq ft) four-bedroom house, is now for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald for €950,000. It’s a bright, lived-in, split-level house filled with paintings by Jacques, a Belgian who met Dolores while she was on holidays in Spain in the 1970s. It’s also cosy, with three wood-burning stoves in the house. And it’s built to take advantage of views from all the rooms at the back of the house.

Downstairs, both the snug family room and the open-plan kitchen/diningroom have these stoves; both maximize views of the back garden with large windows. Patio doors open from the timber-beamed diningroom into the garden. There’s a utility room and a study downstairs as well as a studio where Jacques works.

Upstairs, a livingroom (with another stove) and two bedrooms all take advantage of the home’s views: there’s a corner picture window in the livingroom and two double bedrooms, all opening onto a small balcony looking over the sloping lawn to the distant sea. There are also two double bedrooms at the front of the house.

Jacques regards his garden as an extension of his art: a long drive leads through a wide gate into the front garden where there’s a stone-walled stream. A patio to the side is dominated by a large BBQ with a decorated stone chimney and a mosaic-topped table which has a clever trough in it for cooling wine, both created by Jacques. A path leads to the back where the large lawn is fringed with trees, shrubs and surprises – like a sculpture of a gardener with a plant-filled bucket for his head.