A country house with 12.75 acres within striking distance of the city is expected to fetch in excess of £4 million when it is auctioned by Lisney on June 1st.

Shankill House, at Ferndale Road, Shankill, Co Dublin, should appeal to a buyer who wants a good deal of space and privacy in a surprisingly rural setting. Although its postal address is Shankill, the house is close to Rathmichael Church on Ferndale Road, Rathmichael. It is about 10 miles from the city centre.

Dubbed the "new Foxrock" by estate agents, Rathmichael is increasingly popular with buyers at the upper end of the market.

The handsome two-storey house over a basement is reached at the end of a tree-lined avenue that winds through the property, past an outdoor swimming-pool, and opens out into a wide gravel forecourt in front of the house.

The property has a separate coach-house with more than 1,200 sq ft and a walled stable yard with an adjoining barn.

Much of the 12.75 acres of land is in open pasture and woodland and has extensive road frontage on Ferndale Road and Rathmichael Dales.

The land is sterilised for further development, according to selling agent Peter Kieran.

A tranche of land previously attached to the property has already been developed as Rathmichael Dales, an expensive housing scheme where individual sites are still being developed.

Shankill House is a manageable size, with around 5,600 sq. ft of living space.

Sparsely decorated with white painted walls in many of the rooms, the main decorative features are the tall windows, most of which have working shutters.

An elegant hall leads to the three principal reception rooms - a 33 ft long drawing-room with five tall sash windows overlooking the grounds; a large morning room and a smaller dining-room.

Each of these rooms has a period fireplace and simple ceiling cornices.

The kitchen is another lofty, well-proportioned room with a full range of fitted units. A utility room and bathroom are also on this level.

The garden level has a wide hall with rooms leading off on either side. With a bedroom, living-room, kitchen, bathroom, a large store room and a boiler room, it could be used as a self-contained flat.

Two bedrooms and a bathroom are on the first landing. The first floor has three further bedrooms leading off a very attractive landing with a decorative archway.

The main bedroom suite has a large bedroom leading to a dressing-room and a full en suite bathroom with a Jacuzzi bath.

One of the two other bedrooms is very large, and, like the main bedroom, is lit by three windows.

The mews house has a large hall, living-room, kitchen/ dining-room and two staircases to the upper floor, where there are two bedrooms and a bathroom.