Country living beside the village of Kill, with easy access to the city, from €265,000

If location truly is everything, then Hillfort, a new development by Lagan Homes in Kill, Co Kildare, will be hard to beat. Set on the fringes of Kill village but right beside a primary school, off the motorway but next to the interchange for Dublin, it offers a balance of country living with easy access to the city for work, and the nearby town of Naas for shopping and secondary schools.

Built on a hill outside the village, with cows in neighbouring fields, buyers will have pastoral views stretching across the plains of Kildare to the Hill of Allen. The fort in the name refers to a ringfort or rath behind the development.

The first stage of the scheme is now on sale, with a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bed family homes available. Well-planned layouts maximise the space, many of the living areas and bedrooms benefit from more windows than the norm, adding interest and increased light.

Kitchens are attractively designed, with timeless Shaker-style units, and many of the houses come with clever understairs utilities or extra storage in the hot presses.

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The homes are A2 rated and while the TV set-up is rapidly displacing the traditional fireplace, all houses in Hillfort have an attractive display of long thin pieces of ash that add warmth to the room and bring nature inside. Upstairs the rooms are good sized, with an excellent array of fitted wardrobes and all bathrooms have quality Sonas sanitary ware.

The exteriors have pale rendered walls, with a warm brick detail around the doors and windows that will make for a charming development. There’s a thoughtfulness to the design and impressive attention to detail, with a high-spec finish. The homes are ready to move into and are wired for EV outside.

Kill is one of those rare Irish villages not destroyed by the march of the Celtic Tiger, which is surprising given its proximity to the capital. A gold medal winner in the 2021 Tidy Towns, it has retained its heart and its charm, with excellent coffee shops, Two Cooks and Canvas Coffee, great dining in the Dew Drop Inn, and Avoca is a quick spin up the dual carriageway. Naas is on the doorstep for all the big supermarkets, more great restaurants, excellent secondary schools – CBS, St Mary’s, Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara – and Clongowes and Newbridge College are also within striking distance.

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Goffs is just across the road and Kill is, of course, in the heart of horse country, with racing at Naas, Punchestown and the Curragh all nearby. There’s sailing at the Blessington lakes only a short hop away, with easy access to the hills of Wicklow beyond, golf at the nearby Palmerstown, and in the village there’s a GAA and a soccer club.

Prices for Hillfort start at €265,000 for the one-bed apartments the Ash and the Elder; the two-bed Oak and Cherry are €385,000; the three-bed semi-detached Willow, Elm, Birch and Maple are €425,000; and the Juniper, a detached four-bed that comes with a study, costs €565,000.

Joint selling agents are Coonans and French Estates.