Howth peninsula is home to some of Dublin’s loveliest residences. Its coastal roads conceal enormous homes with wonderful sea views. Brackenhurst, just minutes from Howth’s main street on Cowbooter Lane, is a relatively modest residence but its setting, on a sprawling eight acres of sloping lands, high on a hill overlooking the village and some of Dublin’s best-loved landmarks, Ireland’s Eye and Lambay islands, makes it one of the most interesting properties to come up for sale here in a while. Seeking €3 million through agent JB Kelly, it offers a buyer with very deep pockets the opportunity to create their own slice of perfection.
For owners David and Lorna Hopkins, the house and lands are already perfect but becoming too much for them to manage. The couple has lived a real-life version of The Good Life, the British 1970s sitcom where characters Tom and Barbara Good tried to live a self-sufficient life in a suburban London setting. But where the Goods attempts often ended in epic failure, the Hopkins have flourished at Brackenhurst.
Located just off Nashville Road, it is just a five-minute walk from the centre of the village but once on the property you are transported far from the suburbs to the pastoral pleasure of the countryside.
In the 1980s the now retired couple (David is an electrical engineer, Lorna is a former chairman of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland) were on the lookout for land to keep horses for their daughter. “One day while standing over a five-bar gate in Co Louth, Lorna got talking to another mother who mentioned this place,” David recalls.
The setting was like nothing they had seen. In 1988 they built their dream house using direct labour, a decision that nearly killed them, as the bricklayers were paid by the block and would come for a day, then disappear for weeks.
To make the most of the site they constructed a villa-style house, where the bedrooms are on the lower level and the reception rooms and kitchen are at the top of the house.
But the property’s eight acres are the most likely to attract attention. These lands are within Howth’s Special Amenity Area and adjoin lands owned by Treasury Holdings. Too much for the couple to manage by themselves they decided to subdivide two acres – accessed via Thormanby Road – into allotments that locals can rent for about €200 per year.
David is an avid sailor and built two boats – a John Corby design and a modern take on the Falmouth quay punt – in sheds on the property. The couple also keep hens, and having lost their entire flock to a fox two years ago, the hen house is as secure as Alcatraz, says David.
They used to keep pigs, too, and even travelled to Umbria to learn how to make sausages and pancetta. “They were extremely playful, and you got fond of them,” says David, recalling that he “felt like a heel” bringing them to Trim to the abattoir.
There are subtle maritime references throughout the house. From the entrance hall a set of steps leads up to a deck-style hall and a hexagonal sitting room off it with glazing on all five sides. Here there is a double-sided insert hearth – by Irish stove company Boru – that also warms the hall.
A set of iroko steps lead up to the living room, where once ship-shape brass rails have patinated over the years. It has big picture windows on two sides, framing the amazing sea views. On the opposite wall is an insert wood burning stove with a Liscannor slate surround.
From here and the comfort of an easy chair, David could keep an eye on his craft in the marina below and, more importantly, on the competition. In the kitchen, to the rear of the house, there are maple shaker-style units, Corian worktops and an oak floor. A cat sits atop a black four-door Aga while the dogs settle down beside it.
Downstairs there are four double bedrooms and a sizeable laundry room. The master and one of the other bedrooms share a jack and jill shower room.
As well as paddocks and stables – ideal for anyone that wants to keep a couple of horses – there is a patch of gorse where the couple keep beehives and the Howth honey is available to buy locally.
This is a very sweet set-up, a property rooted in the Earth, where the dawn chorus wakes the household but is still only a 15-minute walk to the Dart station and a 25-minute train commute to Connolly Station.
Brackenhurst, measuring 225sq m/2,421sq ft on eight acres of land is seeking €3 million through agent JB Kelly.
