Close the gates to 41 Reres Road and all that’s visible behind the garden’s high hedge are the mature trees of Reres Park, their golden and russet leaves fluttering in the stiff autumn breeze.
A delightfully friendly Tibetan terrier named Ollie rushes out to greet me. At the other end of his lead is owner Gill Westwater.
Having given his guest a good sniff and decided he passes muster, Ollie allows me through a glazed door and into the living room, a tremendous space with vaulted ceiling and high level Velux windows.
At one point 41 Reres Road was the stable block for Rocknowe House, a mansion that has long since disappeared – it is thought a fire claimed it.
It was converted from a joiner’s workshop 16 years ago and Gill has lived there for the past six years.
“I used to walk past when it was a joiner’s workshop and think what a great house it would make,” Gill remembers.
When they bought the house Gill (48) and her husband Hamish (49) set about renovating it into the home they wanted.
“There wasn’t a dining room or utility room, which seemed wrong in a house this size,” she continues. “We took the old kitchen and split it in two, to create a dining room and utility.”
The kitchen now sits at the front of the house, lit by a huge archway window that would once have been a door into the stables.
“We replaced the window here with bi-folding doors that let us completely open up the kitchen into the garden during the summer months,” Gill explains.
Past the living room is Gill and Hamish’s end of the house. On the ground floor is a dressing room and bathroom, while upstairs is the large master bedroom, with additional hanging space in the eaves.
“What’s great is this part of the house is separate from all the other bedrooms,” Gil continues.
“Our son can have his friends over and make as much noise as they want at their end of the house and we’re blissfully ignorant.”
Handmade shutters take the place of curtains, shutting out the light more effectively and complementing the traditional feel of the home.
Past the kitchen are two downstairs guest bedrooms which share a shower room, and another set of stairs up to three more bedrooms, one of which is en suite with the others having access to a WC.
The front garden faces south and has a bright summerhouse, while the courtyard rear garden has a drying area.
Hamish works in the oil industry and with their son Ewan at university in Aberdeen the couple are moving to Memus, near Kirriemuir, to be closer to the Granite City.
“This house has been great for entertaining but it now feels a bit big for just the two of us,” Gill says.
41 Reres Road, Broughty Ferry, is on sale with McEwan Fraser Legal for o/o £625,000.