“Flowers give a prolonged delight to all, both in the garden and out of it; and though one can buy cut flowers, one cannot buy the happiness which they give us as they grow.” This quote is attributed to AA Milne, but anyone looking at the back garden of number 30 Anna Villa, in Ranelagh, might feel the same.
Orientated southeast, bounded by old granite walls and backing on to the grounds of Sandford Park School, it is bursting with summer colour; the owners have planned the planting for year-round interest, starting in January with a white-flowering Exochorda and the pale lilac blooms of a Magnolia Susan. And people viewing the property, which is now for sale through DNG with an asking price of €1.85 million, will soon behold the blush-coloured berries of a Sorbus Pink Pagoda.
Number 30, a four-bedroom redbrick with 225sq m (2,422sq ft) of warm and well-maintained accommodation, was built in 1897 and is the last house at the Dunville Avenue end of the road. A turn off the main Ranelagh road between McSorley’s and Birchall’s pubs, Anna Villa is shown on Taylor’s map (1816) as Anne Street and is now lined with houses that date from the 18th century to the first half of the 20th century, lending what one of the current owners fondly calls a “higgledy piggledy” feel.
When they bought the house at auction in 2000 for IR£545,000 (about €692,000), it was 171sq m (1,841sq ft) and they saw the potential in a bit of space to the right of the front door. They engaged architect Gerry Cahill to design a two-storey extension that projects to the side as a long room running from front to back, and to the rear as a large eat-in kitchen with a wall of Rationel glass doors. There’s also a covered side passage through from the gravelled front garden, where there is space for a few cars between the trees.
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At ground-floor level, this room is a long, cosy dual-aspect sitting room, where the owners spend much of their time; there is a stove in a modern stone fireplace and they have recently re-sanded the wooden floor.
It opens into the kitchen, built by Country Kitchens in Stradbally 22 years ago and refreshed by regular repainting, with a cream Aga and new pale parquet floor that continues along the hall. The big doors open to the flagstone patio where there are two sunny spots; in the evenings the owners like to sit farther down the garden, close to the greenhouse. Also at this level are a utility room, an understairs toilet and some storage.
Off the hall, with its original front door and stained-glass side panels, are the two original reception rooms in which the owners reinstated folding doors, moved the front-room fireplace to the dining room (they found a near-match for it in a salvage yard) and, as elsewhere in the house, refurbished the original sash windows. There is a bay window to the front, and the ceiling plasterwork is in good condition. For a house of this age, the BER of C3 is pretty good.
Upstairs, the division between old and new is marked by a split at the top of the stairs. In the older, front part of the house, past a stained-glass-lit reading nook, are three bright double bedrooms, two of them with built-in wardrobes. And to the rear beyond an arch, where originally there was a little landing, are the family bathroom and a home office. To the right, the dual-aspect main bedroom, with en suite, runs the depth of the house, with views of the road at the front and of the garden from the back.
The owners are looking forward to moving closer to their family and to having a smaller place to look after. And, of course, another garden to grow, and to ponder Winnie the Pooh’s observation: “Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.”
