Marian Kenny has lived at 2 Gosworth Court off the Castlepark Road close to Dalkey village for 30 years. Having bought the property with her then husband in 1994, she later repurchased it at auction following their divorce so she and her four children wouldn’t have to move from the home they loved. The day of the purchase, carried out on her behalf by a lawyer and friend, must have been one of conflicting emotions for Marian as she recalls it was the same day as her mother’s funeral.
Marian may be familiar to some as “The Blonde” as she was to referred to as such in the restaurant reviews of her late fiancé, Irish Independent food critic, chef and judge on RTÉ's The Restaurant, Paolo Tullio, who died following an illness in 2015. Tullio was very much part of the fabric of the house, Marian says, and the couple would usually spend weekdays at her Dublin house and weekends at Tullio’s house in Wicklow. The family learned from Tullio to never put cream in carbonara, says Marian’s daughter Gemma, and she and her mum laugh remembering how he would “go berserk” if Marian ever deviated from an Italian recipe. Gemma’s favourite dish of Tullio’s was fried courgette flowers stuffed with mozzarella, and they can still enjoy the taste of his recipes to this day, she says, thanks to the influence Tullio had on her brother, Max, who is also a chef.
Marian, who continues to work as a tax consultant, created a happy home here, and her children always felt safe in the area and would often go swimming nearby from Coliemore Harbour and the Forty Foot, says Gemma. Marian, who is originally from Cabra, describes how she feels part of the village in Dalkey, where everyone working in local shops and restaurants knows her when she walks through the door.
Now with her children reared, the house has done its job for their family, says Marian. Number 2 Gosworth Court is now on the market seeking €1.5 million through Knight Frank.
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The Co Dublin location – the address is Sandycove, although it is closer to Dalkey village – is what first attracted Marian to the property. However, the interior at the time was “a disaster”, she says, with brown carpets, pink wallpaper, green doors and plastic chandeliers. There is no longer a gaudy wallcovering in sight in this bright and charming, detached, four-bedroom home.
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Number 2 Gosworth Court occupies the central plot flanked by two similar houses in a quiet cul-de-sac off the Castlepark Road. The property, which extends to 201sq m (2,170sq ft) and has a D2 Ber, features two reception rooms, a kitchen, a family room and a study at ground level as well as four double bedrooms on the first floor and a south-facing back garden.
Beyond a spacious driveway to the front, you enter the house into a hallway, which introduces you to the airy interior characterised by wooden floors and fresh white walls. The livingroom sits to the right off the hall with a gas fire at its centre and a deep window bay providing an ideal nook for a set of armchairs. This, says Marian, is her favourite room in the house, although it’s used less often than the family room to the rear. The livingroom connects to the diningroom, which has French doors out to the back patio, surrounded by plush greenery.
The kitchen is on the left off the hallway and features grey units, wooden countertops, floating wooden shelves and a white metro-tile splashback. It leads on to the comfortable family room, which also has a gas fire and French doors leading on to the patio. A prospective owner could potentially knock through here if they wanted to create an open-plan kitchen/living space. There is also a utility off the kitchen as well as a WC on the ground floor, and a study opposite the livingroom at the front of the property.
The first floor has a convenient layout with the main bedroom to the rear, featuring a walk-in wardrobe and an en suite, as well as three further good-sized doubles, the main bathroom and a reading nook by the front window on the landing.
The back garden is well maintained, with ample planting around the perimeter providing a lovely natural backdrop as well as privacy, a decked patio and a circular paved patio surrounded by loose stones at the garden’s centre.
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There is no shortage of lovely seaside walking routes close to Gosworth Court, with the vibrant villages of Dalkey, Sandycove and Glasthule all within walking distance. Glenageary Dart station is an eight-minute walk from the property for an easy commute to Dublin city centre, and there are a number of well-regarded schools in the area.
Number 2 Gosworth Court has been the venue for many of the Kenny family’s celebrations over the years and it comes to the market in excellent condition, primed for a new family to move right in and continue the party.
