A large Regency villa in a secluded spot on the Howth peninsula is guiding €5 million prior to auction, writes Kate McMorrow

A lovely Regency villa in Howth with uninterrupted sea views fulfils just about every requirement for the perfect family home. Blue skies and a spot of sunshine is all that is needed to transport Roxboro to a plantation in America's deep south or to a Caribbean island.

Lisney is quoting an advised minimum value (AMV) of €5 million for this 445sq m (4,790sq ft) six-bedroom villa, which stands on almost 2.5 acres off Old Carrickbrack Road, Baily. However, this guide sounds too low, given the property's rarity value.

Roxboro's owners are reluctantly moving over the hill to something more manageable, having lived here for the past quarter century. The gardens, in particular, have been a labour of love and complement the visual beauty of the house.

There are stables with a separate back gate and driveway, level lawns, a lawn tennis court and walled vegetable garden.

Roxboro is sheltered at the back by a heathery outcrop of the Howth stone which was used to build the house.

Standing on the front veranda, the eye is drawn across the lawn to a panoramic vista of Dublin Bay, looking out to Bray Head and beyond.

Roxboro was built for the Beresford family around 1850 and just three dynasties have resided here since. Its colonial-style veranda, now wreathed in jasmine and clematis, was built in 1906 by Henry Hicks of the famous furniture family.

First impression through the front door is of a comfortably lived-in family home, with squashy sofas, paintings propped against the walls and wellingtons by the back door. Sumptuous period features distract the eye at every turn.

In true Regency style, formal rooms for entertaining and most of the bedrooms are at entrance level, with a cosy family-friendly area at garden level.

The interior is designed so that the principal rooms face south and enjoy the shimmering sea views.

These rooms have fine decorative over-doors and ceiling cornicing.

To the right off the hall is a drawingroom with a Georgian Adams fireplace, arched bookshelves with reeded pilasters and cushioned seating under the wide bay window. Across the hall is a second sittingroom with very fine marble mantelpiece, reeded brass grate and bay window.

Four of the six bedrooms are also at this level, all airy and high-ceilinged, with a dressingroom and en suite bathroom off the main bedroom.

French doors open from here to a conservatory where the owner brings on her seedlings. There is also a small box room, family bathroom and guest toilet.

Elegance gives way to cosiness at the lower level, where the family tends to congregate. A kettle hums on the red Aga and branches of an old beech tree are framed by the kitchen window.

The big country-style kitchen is open-plan to a family room, where French doors access a terrace. A laundry room also opens to the garden.

Bedrooms five and six and a playroom/bedroom with cast-iron fireplace are also off the downstairs hall, plus another family bathroom and a spacious diningroom.

Children would have great fun playing hide and seek in the gardens, which are full of interesting nooks and crannies.

Electronic gates open to a driveway lined with mountain ash and hebe. This winds round to the front lawn and tennis court.

A path by the back door leads beyond the old beech to a huge kitchen garden with raspberry canes and apple and plum trees.

A second gate opens onto New Carrickbrack Road and a back drive winds up to a stable block.

A stone wood store and tool shed and double garage are tucked behind the house.

Conservation laws on this stretch of coastline should preserve the sea views from the prospect of future development.