Garden the star of bespoke Merrion Avenue home for €1.35m

The south-facing, devotedly cared for garden of her Clonfadda Wood home is vendor Cliodhna O’Donoghue’s “proudest feature”.  There’s a lot to be pleased about.

Wide, long, lush and full of promise, even on a soggy day, the garden has shady pergolas on either side (one swathed in a scentless yellow rose to keep bees at bay) slender bamboos, a trio of silver birch, tall hollies, sheltering ivies and a shed with personality.

O’Donoghue has put sweat, joy and “every penny we had during our first years living here” into the garden. She’ll be sad to leave but happy to downsize from a home which, after 21 years, has become too big.

A former long-time property editor with a national newspaper, O’Donoghue admits to being “very apprehensive” about the business of selling her own home.

Buying was different she says, even something of an adventure. When she first saw her home’s site, in the mid-1990s, it was a field with grazing cows. She was living close by and development was on the cards so she met with Brian Loughran of Gem Construction and architect John Randall and negotiated her preferred site.

“The most detached. By the time the planning permission was granted there were deposits on nearly all units,” O’Donoghue says.

To the original design she added a stained-glass inner window to light up the hall, an extended, opened-out rear area and folding walnut doors to the formal reception rooms. The house cost around £230,000, plus extra for a strip of land to enlarge the garden, and they moved in in January 1997.

Part of a gated development, Clonfadda Wood houses are well located, detached, leafily surrounded, have good gardens and are very popular.  Number 1 Clonfadda Woods has just had its sale agreed for €1.35million, while number 9 sold last year for €1.27million.

Agent Norths Property is now seeking €1.35million for number 3. With 184sq m (1950sq ft) of space, it has four bedrooms (two ensuite), a study, interconnecting reception rooms and an attic TV room/den with storage under the eaves. Extending further into the rear garden may be a possibility, subject to planning permission.

The rear kitchen/dining/family area faces the garden and has four velux throwing in even more light. The interconnecting reception rooms run the width of the house, and have a wide window to the front, French window to the rear garden and a feature gas-fired fireplace. A study off the reception hall is snug, shelf-lined and bright.

Three of the bedrooms are to the front, one to the rear. The main bedroom has copious wardrobe space and a large en suite. Light from a couple of velux fills the attic TV room/den.