Terenure €595,000At one end of the quiet road, I can see the snow-covered tops of the mountains beyond Stepaside. All around is ice and frost, but inside 13 Ashfield Park it's warm and cosy.
There's an advantage to mod cons, including double glazing, decent insulation and a good gas boiler, but in this house, their efficiency is tempered with original features: coving, dado rails, polished wooden floors, and working fireplaces in the livingroom, and in two of the bedrooms.
The current owners bought the house 12 years ago, in good decorative order, and have been keeping things up to date ever since.
Their eye for period detail means additions such as the attic conversion, to a cosy bedroom with bathroom, are reached by a staircase with reclaimed wooden banisters, perfectly in keeping.
It's one of those charming houses with layers and levels, down two steps to the kitchen, up a flight to a return with a utility room and bathroom, up some more to three bedrooms, and up again to the top, where the fourth could also work as a study, a peaceful spot, away from it all.
The style is Victorian, with touches of Arts and Crafts, including stained glass in some windows, fretted radiator covers, a free-standing cast-iron bath, and a mixture of tiled, wooden and carpeted floors.
The kitchen is in pine, with a deep Belfast sink. The bright dining area just off it leads to the garden at the back.
It's also a house that hides clutter, with cupboards and storerooms to make living easier, and the garden shed is big enough for a washing machine, bicycles, and plenty of other bits and pieces.
Outside, the low-maintenance garden is stone-flagged, with raised planted beds; and any new owner sufficiently in love with their car, can drive it right in, through large double gates, off a laneway at the back.
It's also fully enclosed, so children and pets can play in safety.
There are also plenty of parks nearby, and Terenure has shops, schools and bus routes, all just a walk around the corner.
We sit in the sunny breakfast room, reached past an arch that once housed the flue for the solid-fuel cooker, now replaced with a more practical oven and hob.
We're looking at the brave buds peeping up in the garden, and thinking of spring.
"We open the doors in summer," says the owner, "and eat outside - breakfast, dinner - it's lovely".
And even on a day like today, icy outside, but completely cosy indoors, I can actually believe that summer will be here again.
Viewing this Saturday 1-2pm, and by appointment.
13 Ashfield Park, Terenure, Dublin 6
Description: Three- to four- bedroom restored Victorian family home
Agent: DNG
