Co Meath/from €240,000: Prices range from €240,00 to €360,000-plus in a new development not far from Dublin. Kate McMorrow reports

Those who journey out to Ratoath, Co Meath, this weekend to view Sherwood Homes's new Mill Tree Park development will be pleasantly surprised at the value to be had a few miles from the city.

First-time buyers have plenty to choose from and young families will also be in the running. Two-bedroom terrace houses with en suites and back gardens start at €240,000 and three-bed end terraces from €260,000.

Three and four-bedroom semis cost from €295,000 and €360,000 respectively.

Selling agent Sherry FitzGerald New Homes will be taking bookings for the first 44 units at four showhouses, opening on Saturday for the first time.

Mill Tree Park is located off the Ashbourne Road on the outskirts of the village, adjacent to Jamestown Park, an earlier Sherwood project which is maturing nicely.

The site is rural in character, despite being within walking distance of shops and schools. This is the beginning of what will be a new residential neighbourhood, with an inner relief road providing a short cut to the local primary school.

A new secondary school will be located at the edge of the Mill Tree Park estate. A comfort factor for buyers is that the houses are being built by well-known contractors McCabe who also built Abington, the millionaire estate in Malahide.

Architects P D Lane & Associates have designed the scheme on traditional lines, with front driveways, trees and strips of lawn on road verges and good-looking three-quarter brick exteriors.

Porches and shelter walls visually break up the streetscape. Solid pine double-glazed windows and real leaded glass front door panels create a luxury feel. Inside, the layouts make the most of available living space.

Good-sized two-bedroom mid-terrace houses of 82 sq m (883 sq ft) open into a hallway with a downstairs toilet and hoover storage tucked under the staircase.

To the right is a bay-windowed sittingroom facing the front, with an allowance provided for a fireplace. Classic stone fireplaces in the showhouses are an attractive option.

The kitchen/diningroom has cream-painted units with steel handles and doors to a deck and back garden.

Upstairs, the architect has sensibly created one very good double room with roomy en suite shower and one single room, rather than two cramped doubles.

Both bedrooms have wardrobes and the general bathroom is another good-sized room.

End terrace houses with three bedrooms provide 96 sq m (1,035 sq ft) of living space. Three-bed semis of 113 sq m (1,224 sq ft) and starting at €295,000 will suit a young expanding family.

Buyers will welcome the excellent flow of living space, with the sittingroom opening through double doors to a diningroom. This links in turn with a bright breakfast area which is open-plan with the kitchen. Units are pale wood Shaker-style with steel handles.

There is an accessible downstairs toilet under the stairs. Upstairs, two bedrooms are doubles, one with an en suite shower and there is a third single bedroom. The family bathroom is also spacious.

Four-bedroom semis have 133 sq m (1,436 sq ft) of accommodation and a number of top quality extras. Sittingrooms are larger and kitchens have attractive cream units with polished granite worktops.

This links with a breakfastroom which opens to a broad deck and the back garden. A formal diningroom also accesses the garden.

Two double bedrooms, one en suite, and two single rooms all have fitted wardrobes and the family bathroom is a good size.

Front driveways are supplied, with lawns levelled and seeded. Back gardens, also levelled and seeded, have timber decks and are bounded by attractive arched fencing.

The houses in this phase are well under way and will be ready to move into by the end of the summer.