A tiny two-bedroom cottage on the southern side of the Howth peninsula has a superb setting above a curve of beach with amazing coastal views and scope to extend. Number 2 Martello Terrace, on Strand Road, Sutton, Dublin 13, is set in a row of six redbrick cottages with long front gardens and an outlook to die for.
The double-fronted house has just come on the market asking €400,000 through selling agents JB Kelly where Barbara Kelly is handling enquiries. “It’s the kind of property that young people want to have a go at,” says Kelly. “It’s small, but it’s very cute and there is a lot you could do.”
The terrace was built in the 1850s to accommodate British navy personnel who would have worked in the coast guard station, now a private home, at the end of the terrace. Nearby is a Martello tower, which marks the start of the spectacular cliff walk around the peninsula and down into the village of Howth. Across the road from the terrace of houses, steps lead down to a pebble beach called Bottle Quay. Sutton Dinghy club is the located a few minutes away on Strand Road. Established in the 1940s, its members enjoy access to Sutton Creek as well as Dublin Bay.
Number 2 has 53sq m of living space and a ship-shape interior with a small porch opening directly into the sittingroom, which has a wood-burning stove set into a stone-clad chimneybreast. Lots of shelving do the heavy lifting in terms of storage giving the room a slightly cluttered feel.
Beyond the livingroom is a small galley-style kitchen that opens on to a yard at the back of the house, where a shed plumbed for a washing machine does duty as a utility room. The courtyard itself is tiny, but there is plenty of garden at the front of the house, where a 60ft long lawn is flanked by deep hedging. There is parking for a single car with access is from a driveway shared with the house next door.
The bathroom is at the back of the cottage, leading directly off the kitchen and it is likely that new owners will come up with a different solution, possibly converting the second bedroom to a bathroom while extending the kitchen out to meet the boundary wall at the back, as some of the neighbouring homes have done. There is a conservation order on the front of the house.
The main bedroom of number 2 is at the front of the house, with the same eyeful of sea through its hardwood sash window. The second bedroom which, like the first, leads off the livingroom has access to a floored attic used for storage.
