The views from the front and back of a house high on Dalkey Hill are its most striking aspect. Designed by the vendor’s late husband, this property takes maximum advantage of its position and as you approach the house, it’s obvious right away how good the views are. Through the glazed front door you can see straight across the double-height landing to a view of Dublin Bay. The front of the house on the corner of Ardbrugh Close and Ardbrugh Road looks across Dalkey Quarry to the Telegraph Tower.

Now Ardan, a 150sq m (1,614sq ft) three-bed house built in 1994, is for sale through Lisney for €1.295 million.

The owner says her husband wanted the house to have plenty of light and the upstairs of this upside-down house has that in spades. Ardan is a comfortable home in walk-in condition with a simple layout, with the living quarters upstairs and the bedrooms below.

The livingroom on the left of the front hall and the kitchen/breakfastroom/diningroom on the right both run from the front to the back of the house, with large windows with window seats at each end in both rooms. The livingroom is decorated in formal style, painted a pale yellow, with a white fireplace and slate hearth. The window at the back of the room looks straight across Dublin Bay to Howth.

Sea views

The livingroom is carpeted but the hall and kitchen/breakfast/diningroom are floored with pine. It’s difficult to decide if the livingroom or the kitchen has the better view, because both enjoy pretty much uninterrupted views of the sea. The kitchen has grey/green timber units with a limed finish; utilities are concealed behind floor-to-ceiling doors.

Stairs lead down from the hall past double doors opening into the back garden to the bottom floor – it’s bright, even if it doesn’t have the same views as the upstairs rooms. The three bedrooms are doubles, with one fitted out as a sittingroom. There’s a stained-glass window in the family bathroom. The main bedroom has an en suite shower room and a small study off it, which could equally work as a dressingroom.

The lawn at the back of the house slopes down to a purpose-built shed and the garden, ringed with mature bushes, is secluded. There is a side entrance to it from the paved front garden, where there is room to park several cars.