Ballsbridge Avenue and its venerable, terraced cottages have managed, for many years now, to be both private and at the heart of things in Dublin 4. Coming from town it’s a quiet street to the left after Ballsbridge’s main strip of shops, restaurants and Paddy Cullen’s pub.

About a third of the way along the terrace, it’s a surprise to find an enclosed and gated courtyard. Peacefully co-existing with 21st century Ballsbridge, these five, redbrick bungalows and beds of plants have been there for more than 30 years.

The vendor, who bought number 22 Ballsbridge Avenue in 2015 and has extended to almost double its size, explains that the courtyard site was owned and used by the RDS for shoeing horses until it was sold for development in 1985.

The vendor paid €625,000 for number 22 and says that the previous owner, who bought during the housing boom, paid in excess of €1 million. With its floor area extended by almost 46.5sq m (500sq ft), number 22 now has four bedrooms (one of them en-suite), a family shower room, open-plan kitchen/breakfast/livingroom and sunroom/German glasshouse over a 125sq m (1,350sq ft) floor area. Agent Sherry FitzGerald is seeking €850,000.

The vendor is only half joking when he assures that Ballsbridge Avenue is “a divine place to live, a foretaste of heaven”. Family changes make it necessary to downsize.

The German glasshouse, or sunroom, accounts for some 9.2sq m (100sq ft) of the extended house and has created a wonderful sense of space and light as well as making for an all year round outdoor-living experience. Accessed via the kitchen/breakfastroom, it juts into the L-shaped 18ft x 13sq ft patio garden and is sheltered beneath a 20ft-high old stone wall and even higher, creeper-covered brick wall. There are hydrangea, geranium and camellia plants but, in the interests of low maintenance, an astro turf lawn surface.

The light-filled, fully-fitted kitchen/breakfast area has a pitched ceiling with four small Velux windows and the livingroom has a gas-fired fireplace with period-style wooden mantle.

The floor here, as with the rest of the bungalow, is of a warmly polished hardwood. The main, en-suite bedroom overlooks the rear, creeper-clad wall and has fitted wardrobes. Two other bedrooms are front-facing and a fourth, large bedroom, faces the side. The tiled, family shower room has a Velux window.

The courtyard has designated parking for one car.