Watch the sea go by in Bray for €890,000

Few properties can boast the views that burst in through every window at The Watch, a 1960s bungalow in Bray with open-plan living spaces and a well-designed, contemporary exotic garden

Imagine waking up every morning to an enormous stretch of sea spanning the entire length and breadth of your dormer window.

The view from The Watch, a 1960s bungalow that was extended and modernised in 1999, is so alluring that the owners dispensed with window blinds altogether, instead opting for, on the rare occasion in summer when the light is too bright, the his and hers sleep masks that they keep in their respective bedside lockers.

In addition to its spellbinding seascapes, the master bedroom has a walk-in wardrobe and a sizeable en suite with a shower-cum-steamroom and a separate bath that offers another breathtaking view, this time of Bray Head.

Open plan

There are great sea vistas too from most of the rooms downstairs, in the open plan sittingroom and the adjacent, lower-level diningroom, where the beautiful briny is glimpsed through a bay window. Although the views are captivating, it seems a shame not to capitalise on them with more glazing – say a glass wall – to better frame the scenery. The cherrywood kitchen has a pitched ceiling that lets in more light via Velux windows in the roof.

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When the owners bought the property, location scouts convinced them to allow it to be used as the setting for Relative Strangers, a four-part television series that starred Oscar-winner Brenda Fricker.

They used the funds from this to refurbish and extend the property under architect Seán Clifford.

A cathedral window on the stairs captures the exotic, contemporary garden, designed by Colm Connolly of Outdoor Visions. It starts with a sunny, sheltered terracotta-tiled patio. Facing it is a water feature and from there lavender hedging leads to an upper deck that offers yet another incredible view of the Victorian seafront and beyond.

Downstairs there are two more bedrooms as well as a lounge with a wood-burning stove whose sea view is obscured by a mature Cordyline.

The end house in Raheen Park, The Watch abuts a carpark where walkers park their cars before departing the 4.5km coastal path walk over Bray Head to Greystones.

The 180sq m (1,930sq ft) property with a BER rating of C1 is asking €890,000 through agent HJ Byrne.