Behind the Victorian cottage exterior of Harbourville in Dalkey lies a spacious four-bedroom house, which is due for auction by Lisney on October 4th with a guide price of £750,000 (€952.300).

For anyone smitten by the romance of the sea, the house makes a neat compromise between quaintness and contemporary suburban living. It faces Bulloch Harbour, a pretty prospect somewhat marred by the edifice of Our Lady's Manor nursing home.

The faτade is all that remains of the original cottage, which has been remodelled. So the interior is pristine and, finished with timber floors and off-white walls throughout, affording new owners the chance to play with colours and furnishing.

A long entrance hall runs back to a fine drawingroom opening through French windows to a surprisingly good garden, with a gravel patio and granite and brick walls. The view here is of surreal granite outcrops and a granite-clad pumping station that resembles a chapel.

Although these features restrict the southerly light at the rear, the designers have maximised the light available within the house by using glazed doors on the ground floor.

The accommodation here includes two modest reception rooms, sittingroom and diningroom flanking the front hall, both with corniced ceilings and sash windows. The diningroom opens into a large kitchen/breakfastroom with fitted units. Unusually, the utility area is a hardwood cupboard containing a Belfast sink and plumbed for washing machine and dishwasher.

Across the hall is a study/family room with French windows to the garden. Here, as in the drawingroom and sittingroom, a Victorian fireplace and cornicing maintain the period tone established in the faτade and hall. Tucked under the stairs is a shower room with a toilet.

Upstairs are four bedrooms, all with fitted wardrobes. The main bedroom with en suite and walk-in wardrobe mirrors the drawingroom below and overlooks the granite outcrops taking in a distant sliver of sea.

There is a good family bathroom here too with wood panelling to the dado rail. Remote-controlled Velux windows light the landing, bathroom and fourth bedroom.