A garden beyond measure
WHEN the selling agents came to measure the back garden of 30 The Rise in Mount Merrion, Co Dublin, they found their measuring tape was too short.
This necessitated one of those delicate manoeuvres in which you carefully mark the point at which your measuring tape ran out and start again.
The result was just under 70 metres, or 229 ft. In other words, you could lay the Leaning Tower of Pisa (56 metres) flat out on the lawn, and still have enough room left over to host a well-attended garden party out there.
This will of course come as good news to prospective buyers who want to extend. You could throw up a 29ft annexe out the back and still be left with a 200ft garden.
It will be hard to part with any of this garden though. It consists of a patio, hedging, a lawn, discreet paving and mature planting, and one of its features is a chestnut tree planted by the current owner’s children a quarter of a century ago.
The house is in good order inside too, although the decor could do with an update at this stage.
It’s 1,675 sq ft with five bedrooms on the first floor. Also on this level there’s a library and a bathroom with both a walk-in shower and a free-standing bath.
There are two main reception rooms on the ground floor — a study overlooking the back garden and a living room and dining room that have been knocked into one, with a gas-fitted fireplace and a door to the garden.
The kitchen/breakfast room runs the entire length of the house and is triple-aspect with two sets of sliding doors — one to the back garden and the other to the south-facing side patio.
Number 30 is for sale for €1.1m with Janet Carroll (01) 288 2020.