Two miles south of Drogheda, Grange Rath is planned as a self-contained village-style residential development which will include neighbourhood shopping, leisure centre, all-weather football pitch, hotel and a high tech office park. Shannon Homes will have a range of houses on offer with prices starting from £135,000 (#171,414) in the development.

The first phase of 50 houses goes on sale this weekend from plans through joint selling agents Hooke & MacDonald and Drogheda-based Thomas Byrne Auctioneers. The first homes are due for completion in early summer.

There is a good selection of detached four and five-bedroom houses on offer with floor areas ranging from 1,345 to 3,300 sq ft in seven different house designs. There will be 215 houses in Grange Rath when it is complete and while the development is dominated by detached houses, there is also a small number of three and four-bedroom semi-detached houses.

The detached four-bedroom homes are priced from £182,000 (#231,092) and the five-bedroom detached designs are from £295,000 (#374,572). The three-bedroom houses start from £135,000 (#171,416) and the fourbedroom semi-detached houses from £149,500 (#189,825).

Shannon Homes has built a number of high quality schemes in recent years, including Donnybrook Castle in Dublin 4, St Gabriel's in Cabinteely and more in the Drogheda, Ardee and Dundalk area.

Grange Rath is situated on the Dublin Road, in the Colpe area south of Drogheda. Particular emphasis is being placed on landscaping, with avenue tree-planting, hedges and garden foliage. The landscaping will also include water features, cycle paths and walkways with plenty of green space for children to play in.

Drogheda has grown as a large regional centre within the Dublin commuter belt. Improved transport is facilitating the town's development: there is a daily commuter train service to Dublin city centre and Belfast can be reached by train in over an hour. The beaches at Laytown and Bettystown are another plus for the area.