The new way of working has made house owners reassess their work/life balance. Sherry FitzGerald selling agent Martin Doyle operates in Dublin 9 and he estimates about 20 per cent of his clients, usually country-born, are returning to their roots to be closer to family.

The owners of 73 Hollybank Road fit this new demographic and are moving north. They plan to commute to work in Dublin on the necessary days but want their children to know their grandparents.

When they bought the house in December 2014, paying €675,000 for it according to the property price register, it was to be their ‘last stop’, as illustrated on a piece of wall art in the living room, set out like a bus route and illustrated by a list of their former abodes.

Accessed via granite steps, the house opens into a good-sized hall with a ceiling height of over 3 metres. It has fine interconnecting rooms with matching marble fireplaces, each with a tiled insert.

The dual aspect space is set up with the living room to the front, where twin windows wash it in southern light, and the dining room to the rear where there are views across the River Tolka to Griffith Park and its deciduous trees, gradually turning gorgeous shades of gold and copper.

The kitchen is in the return to the rear. Dual aspect, its painted units are set out in a U-shape and its location makes it handy to the nearby reception rooms. It does however limit its size. Many other houses on the road have chosen to install the kitchen at garden level because it opens directly to the outside.

A narrow staircase leads down to garden level and opens into a large and light-filled sitting room. The owners have made great use of the understairs space to install seven sliding doors of storage.

There’s a door from here to the north-facing garden laid out in artificial lawn and cobble-locked paving with off-street parking for up to two cars behind electronic gates.

The garden space is sizeable, extending 11m from the wall of the kitchen.

To the rear of the sitting room is a generous utility with toilet and another door out to the garden. With the addition of a shower room this floor could function as a self-contained unit or possibly a rent-a-room offer.

There are views of the park from the garden too, which while north-facing gets a good bit of sun as it isn’t overlooked.

Upstairs there are three bedrooms, a single and two fine doubles. The main bedroom is set to the rear of the house.

With a D2 Ber rating, it is seeking €775,000 through agent Sherry FitzGerald.