THE bitey end is barking furiously but the tail is wagging, so I open the huge steel gates that help the yappy mutt guard her home, and walk right in.
Noisy’s owner soon appears on the doorstep of the sheltering portico over the front door of this delightful home to give me the seal of approval: thus, my new best friend happily follows me as I wander through the spacious two-storey, four-bedroom abode.
The Duke Street home is only a few years old, unlike many others in the gorgeous Plympton ward of East Fremantle, but jarrah floors throughout have the rich, mellow hue of old timber, while feature walls of raw brick, soaring ceilings and massive windows provide an enduring sense of a holiday home down south.
Sitting on 440sqm the garden’s a mix of living rock and hewed-limestone block walls, coupled with mature trees and masses of greenery to help the holiday feel along.
Chilling on the deck or in the sunken garden off the dining/living area you could be forgiven for forgetting you’re near the city at all (and with a hardly-heard Stirling Highway behind, to boot). Three bedrooms are on the ground floor, all double, one with french doors to a sheltered garden.
Killer and I head up the stairs where a gobsmackingly huge open living/dining/kitchen fantastically frames a massive, Gothic stone fireplace, constructed from large chunks of American river stone.
“Oh yes,” the vendor enthuses when I ask if it is a fully working open fire. “Along with the pizza oven,” he adds with relish. Said oven can be found in the very private rear courtyard garden off the living area, a gorgeous spot to entertain, or to just sit under the sheltering trees, backdropped by a natural limestone wall, and commune with nature.
It’s a tough call whether you’d want to be outside or in, amid the magnificence of the upstairs living space with its soaring cathedral ceiling with its many timber beams.
The large kitchen is a thoroughly modern domain, with acres of soft-grey flecked granite benches and a swag of gleaming-white soft closing drawers.
French doors on one side of the living area lead to a balcony overlooking leafy East Freo, while a second set lead to the rear courtyard and pizza oven, where cute limestone steps take you to the lower gardens.
The main bedroom is upstairs, a gorgeous space where a king-sized bed tucks under eaves, a cute Gothic bay window peers over the garden, and the sweeping open ensuite has a massive open shower and double vanities.
This is a lovely home with all the appeal of a fairy-story cottage in a thoroughly modern package. East Fremantle’s fantastic George Street shopping and cafe precinct is just around the corner, you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping further afield, and of course the river foreshore is a pleasant stroll away.
Wags doesn’t come with the house but you could always make her a dealbreaker: she is a cutie.
27b Duke Street,
East Fremantle
$1.29–$1.35 million
Todd Grierson 0417 881 772
Yard Property 9339 1006