If walls had ears and could recount events, Pine Lodge in Greystones, Co Wicklow would have some stories to tell.

For several decades, this beautifully appointed and very substantial Edwardian-style home has played host to a procession of government ministers; economists, bankers and academics; Nobel laureates, diplomats and philosophers; and more than its fair share of chefs, poets, writers, artists and musicians.

“I love it and have loved all of it,” says the vendor, a publicity-shy analyst and advisor with a successful career in a multiplicity of roles that will all continue. “I thought I was going to be going out of here in a box. It is a comfortable home, exceptionally energy-efficient and worked perfectly for us, but it’s time to move on.”

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Moving on means decamping to the south-east, but he and his wife (their two boys are grown and have themselves departed) will be bringing with them “extraordinarily happy memories” of “having parties, fun and chatting with people”, a cast of characters the departing host characterises wistfully and with a tinge of sadness as “all sorts of wild people”.

Mahogany table

Effervescent conversation – storytelling and problem-solving – centred on a substantial 14-place-setting mahogany table located in the middle of a large diningroom, of which the table itself would be the outstanding feature (a treasured item, it was the vendor’s parents’ wedding breakfast table) were it not for the 1798 Adams-style marble fireplace (one of a pair) and several eye-catching works of modern art on the walls.

The wall spaces between five tall sash windows, through which light pours in the daytime, are lined with books. A large Persian-style rug sits on polished French walnut flooring.

Sliding doors connect the diningroom to the livingroom – a space of similar size and proportions, and with similar works of art and décor – and that other Adams fireplace (one or the other of which featured in a scene from Neil Jordan's film Michael Collins).

The diningroom/livingroom runs the entire depth of the house on one side of the hall, which is itself a signature feature.

Leaded side-lights

Accessed via a leaded-light front door, with leaded side-lights, the hall is generously proportioned. The four doors off it – ample, dark oak-panelled doors framed by ornately carved architraves – came from the boardroom of Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

To the left of the hall is a kitchen, also running the depth of the house – from the bay window overlooking the front drive and garden to the rear family living space with settees and a wood-burning stove.

The kitchen proper has a central preparation and breakfast counter made of bianco perlino polished limestone marble, German-built SieMatic cabinets and a limestone tile floor that extends in from the hall.

Off the kitchen is a hall passage leading to a large utility room and a garage (wherein currently sits a classic Mark II Jaguar in mint condition).

Upstairs, the first floor is home to five bedrooms – all of them substantial, with fitted wardrobes and four with full en suites. A really eye-catching feature, and an insight to the intellectual curiosity and appreciation of excellence that pervades the house, is the reading-room that forms part of the stairwell and first-floor landing.

Various hobbies

The second floor has two large attic rooms. One was a cinema, the other a space for the pursuit of various hobbies.

Pine Lodge, which is off New Road, was only built in the 1970s and is a shade under 371sq m (4,000sq ft) in size. Décor throughout is Farrow and Ball – subtle and understated except where period-appropriate (such as William Morris-designed wallpapers), and the entire property is in mint condition.

Details of design and construction suggest inspiration from the neighbouring Burnaby area and the arts and crafts movement. Those details externally include a beautiful west-facing veranda that runs almost the length of the front, the wooden sash windows and granite sills, the red-tiled roof, tall chimney stacks and filigree ridge tiles.

Mimosa

The house is very private and cannot be seen from the road. It is accessed via electric gates and a gravel driveway lined by pine trees and mimosa, currently in full-bloom yellow.

The secluded rear garden is dominated by a granite flag patio for al fresco dining, and a series of raised beds surrounded by box hedging and containing a variety of fruit trees, raspberry canes, rhubarb and herbs – some of the ingredients for those discreet but fascinating dinner parties.

Often, says the departing lady of the house, the only sounds to be heard are birds in the day and the sea at night. And the echo of remembered laughter and gossip around the dining table . . .