When the owner of The Hermitage was a little boy, back when there was still a Foxrock train station, he used to take the train out here from Terenure and wander around. “It was a mysterious amazing place, with all these big houses,” he recalls. “I never thought I’d live here.”

But live here he did, raising a family for the past 28 years. He was sold on The Hermitage the moment he came down the drive. “The magic is still there,” says his wife.

“It’s just of a different kind now,” she says as goes on to describe Foxrock’s particular village feel, the shops, the friendly neighbours and the great transport links to town.

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The Hermitage itself was built in 1907, just as period detail was giving way to arts and crafts. As a result, the house, which was carefully restored, reroofed, rewired, given new windows and redecorated by the owners, has a fun mixture of styles that make it interesting and a welcoming mixture of elegant and comfort.

There are round windows on both floors, some of them with stained glass. There is moulded plasterwork around the ceilings but the staircase has geometries in its woodwork that are more in keeping with the later style. It all comes together to work satisfyingly well.

Friendly atmosphere

The house, which is for sale with Hunters for €2.25 million is on 0.45 acres of land. It had been more, but the owners, who are downsizing, have built their new home on a portion of the original site.

The owners have clearly loved the house, agreeing that “it has been good to us over the years. It has a very friendly atmosphere”.

We wander around the gardens, and they point out the mature plantings, the corner deck for sundowners, and the areas that will be in lush bloom come summer. Useful outhouses are there to shelter any gardening gear.

Back inside, the ground floor has a very nice entrance hall, drawing room, sitting room, dining room (which the owners find so lovely they make sure to use it every night) and a contemporary kitchen/breakfast room and utility.

There is also a semi-separate space with its own entrance, a bedroom that has a lovely bay window, and an en-suite, which makes it perfect for guests, older children, even older relatives or an au pair.

The other bedrooms are upstairs. All are large doubles, and two are en-suite. There’s also a very sweet study with more round windows and a door to a balcony space.

This could be a fifth bedroom and was highly desired by one of the owner’s children, but the owner hung on to it for his study – and you can’t blame him, it’s a small but super room.