The finer points of Howth Head, its bracing air and lush foliage, quiet, winding roads and seclusion, are all in evidence around Woodlands, a large house close to the summit.
So close to the summit, in fact, that The Summit Inn could be its local.
Woodlands doesn’t have sea views but has the peace of elevation, vegetation and climbing gardens in a four-acre site that ensures privacy.
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There is also, reputedly, a holy well awaiting discovery in the grounds. With more than 3,000 such wells in the country, the chances of finding it are good.
The vendors built Woodlands in a rambling style in 2000.
They wanted open spaces for family living and the layout offers plenty of this: from the wide entrance hall to a kitchen/breakfastroom that swings into a family room, the large spaces of the formal dining and drawingrooms to, along the side of the house, a corridor leading to a home cinema that is complete in every detail.
The vendors have reared their family and now find Woodlands too big for their needs.
With a floor area of 395sq m (4250sq ft) Woodlands is generously sized. It has six reception rooms (including the cinema), kitchen/breakfastroom, five bedrooms (three en suite and one in use as an office) and family bathroom.
A fully equipped studio/bedroom over the cinema has its own entrance, a galley kitchen, en suite and laundry room.
Sherry FitzGerald is asking €2 million for the property.
Intimate part
Woodlands is built entirely of brick, the windows and French windows throughout (and there are a lot of them) are of hardwood, an ivy clad balcony curves along the first floor and, on view from every window, the appropriately lavish tree and shrub gardens are an intimate part of the indoors.
The entrance hallway is the well of the house, a place with doors leading off, a wide staircase leading to a wide landing and, overhead, an atrium-style vaulted ceiling with plateau surround and two velux windows.
The kitchen/breakfast and family rooms are, the vendors say, where they “mostly live”.
The well-equipped kitchen has ceramic tiled floors, worktops of polished granite and a utility room off.
The family room has one of two wood-burning stoves in the house and, through French windows, a patio leading to a water feature in the gardens.
The diningroom fits a table capable of seating 18 people.
The drawingroom has a gas-fired fireplace with polished granite surround and leads to a games room with a floor of American Oak.
The cinema, which has a 3m x 1.5m screen and built-in projector, is to this side of the house. With lighting that dims and brightens and suitably comfortable seating the mood is properly cinematic.
To the front of the house and with a balcony, the large main bedroom has a mock-fireplace, walk-in closet and extensively fitted en suite bathroom.
All of the bedrooms are bright, with more than their share of windows.
Woodlands is surrounded by ascending gardens on two sides as well as steps and walks and a great deal of charm. There are enclosed fields for horses and two stables.
