62 Highfield Road - Guide price: £875,000

A garden can make a house and so it is with 62 Highfield Road in Rathgar, a late-Georgian two-storey home over a basement. The 140-ft-long rear garden has featured on RTE's The Garden Show and is dominated by a large lily and fish pond surrounded by curving paths and paving stones adjoining wellplanted herbaceous borders and a separate vegetable garden.

The house is due to be auctioned by Bergins on May 31st and has a guide price of £875,000. It has two bedrooms upstairs and two in a self-contained apartment at basement level. New owners would possibly reinsert a staircase to create one house.

Wrought-iron gates lead into the front garden, which has a series of raised beds and a gravelled driveway with parking for three cars.

Granite steps lead up to a pillared doorway, with fanlight, and into the hallway. The stucco work here is vivid and the plasterwork extends to a tondo on the stairway. Indeed, artistic features abound throughout the house and much is due to the flair of the current owners.

Off the hall are the main reception rooms. To the front is a diningroom, painted a striking red with an impressive centrerose and marble fireplace with tiled inset. Double doors lead into the drawingroom, painted in peach, which also has a marble fireplace and is carpeted in rich green. A window-seat overlooks the back garden.

Also off the hall is the kitchen and small pantry. This has fitted units and a gas stove. New owners would possibly update the kitchen, though it has an attractive low ceiling. Also off the hall is a small lobby leading into a bathroom, with tongue-and-groove panelling and a lavatory.

The mahogany staircase winds upstairs and there is a period sash window on the return. Upstairs are two bedrooms. The main bedroom extends the width of the house and has two period windows as well as a fine marble fireplace. Two walls have a range of fitted wardrobes and bookshelves and there is a polished timber floor.

The other bedroom is also a large double and has a cast-iron fireplace and fitted shelves. Also on this level is a fully tiled bathroom with a corner shower unit and a Velux roof light.

The basement is accessed through a separate door. The decor is functional but it features a spacious kitchen with original quarry tiles and a small stove.

The front bedroom is used as a study but would make a good-sized double bedroom. It backs on to another double bedroom. There is also a bathroom at this level and a sittingroom with double doors leading to the landscaped garden.

The garden is very much the piece de resistance and has been designed for low maintenance. Features include piping for easy irrigation as well as the pond, fountain and a magnificent array of flowers and shrubs. The garden has been used for entertaining and has been wired with decorative and security lighting. At the rear is a greenhouse, vegetable patch and garden shed.

The house has a new roof and is well located close to Rathgar, near amenities, such as schools and churches.