A sporting life in the suburbs for €1.15m

Five/six-bedroom detached home in Rathmichael with lots of space and sea views

Quarry Road winds up into the hills, on the back road between Shankill and Bray, and Aldaniti is very well positioned: high enough to get views from the upper floor all the way to the sea, but not so high that it begins to feel windswept. Named for a famous Grand National winner, a stable and what was once a paddock at the back hints at the original owners' love of horses.

More recently, this rambling (it’s 380sq m/4,100sq ft) five-to-six bedroomed house has been home to an energetic sport-loving family, who have found plenty of space for gym equipment, golfing paraphernalia, a pool table and a table tennis table within its walls. The house is long and low, and four of the bedrooms, along with a gym that could become a sixth bedroom are on the ground floor. The family bathroom at this level has a sunken Jacuzzi, which would give the water charges a run for their money.

There’s also a large entrance hall, TV room and a well-kitted out and impressively huge kitchen/dining room, leading through to a sun room, which in turn gives on to the large back garden. There’s a fish pond out here, mature trees and lots of lawn.

Enormous landing

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Upstairs is an enormous landing, which doubles up as a gallery overlooking the kitchen. The present owners have glassed this in to keep heating bills down. This area has sea views, and leads through to the master bedroom, which has a dressing room and en suite. A pair of glass doors here are testament to an original idea – to include a balcony off the bedroom, a project that didn’t meet with planning approval once upon a time, but it may be worth looking into again.

There’s a bit to be done around the house and, to borrow the phrase, there’s masses of potential too: some of the design and decor speaks of a particular era (like that Jacuzzi for starters), and it needs a bit of paint here and there, and some work in the garden for starters. The upstairs landing leads through to a cosy study, and onto a long storage space under the eaves, which would benefit from being kitted out with more shelving to make it really earn its keep.

Outside at the front is a wide tarmacadam area, with parking for a fleet of cars, and a large garage with room for even more. This has a games room above, and it too would reward extra attention. Aldaniti is in a great area for those wanting access to schools, shops, the LUAS and Dart, and the M50 (all a short drive away), but still dreaming of being in the countryside.

Guiding at €1.15 million with Sherry FitzGerald, it's a bank sale, and you may well be getting a bargain for size and potential.