Dublin 8: €440,000: Tucked in off busy Clanbrassil Street, Dublin 8, is a small row of artisan cottages. 8 Wesley Place, for sale by private treaty by Jackson Stops, for offers over €440,000, has retained its period charm, a world away from the traffic rushing by at the end of the street, which was drowned out by bird song on the Saturday morning I visited.

Opposite Wesley Place, on Clanbrassil Street, is the plaque which marks Leopold Bloom's birthplace. The local story goes that when the plaque was being put in a neighbour emerged from his home and said: "Sure, I remember Leopold well. Lovely man." Although the plaque does state that Bloom existed in James Joyce's imagination.

The current owner of 8 Wesley Place, an artist, has been here for 18 years.

Since moving in there has been a light-filled extension added to the rear of the home, a perfect place for painting in. This space is shared with the kitchen, with wooden units painted blue and a terracotta floor. This room was added to the rear of the house before the owner moved in.

To the front of the house, the original two rooms have been knocked into one, and these run into the extension, making the most of the space. This room retains a country-cottage feel with its polished floorboards, original cast iron fireplace and tongue-and-grooved white painted cupboards beneath the exposed stairs. These run up to a bathroom on the first-floor. This continues the comfortable cottage theme with its free-standing bath.

The main bedroom, on the first floor to the front of the house, benefits from tall sash windows. As with the main bedroom, the second bedroom retains period features including a cast-iron fireplace adorned with butterflies and birds, perhaps influenced by William Morris, whose arcadian fabrics were fashionable around the time this home was built, in 1905. This bedroom overlooks the rear 6.30m long garden/patio which is south facing.

This home is in quite a clever location close to the city. Developers have a canny knack of finding sites in such critical locations. At the moment the house sits opposite waste land but new homes are due to be built on it, which the current owner thinks will be beneficial. It will certainly see a continuation of new builds in this stable neighbourhood that had, until fairly recently, seen few changes since Bloom's day.