27 JORENE DRIVE - SOLD

The Essentials

An extraordinary Reddendale bungalow set into gardens you could write poems about. And then maybe sell the poems for enough to buy the house, they’d be that good.

The Bigger Picture

In Oxford, England, tucked just off High St, are the old botanical gardens. The air inside those towering greenhouses is thick enough you can lean into it at ridiculous angles without falling over. Imported clementines hang improbably in the air like fireballs. And the rubber trees show off leaves big enough you might reasonably drift upon them along the willow-fringed waters of the River Cherwell, ignoring the for-hire punts as you make for the Thames proper and then London. It’s a ridiculously charming corner of the world. But all the same, whether those gardens are any better than those at 27 Jorene Drive is entirely debatable.

In a similar vein, there are art galleries, lots of them across this fair land, less concerned with the creation of light-filled space and formidable sightlines than this extraordinary Reddendale bungalow. Standing dead-centre of the sunroom at the back of the house, regarding the verdant lawns and hedges, the evergreens twisting skyward, the banks of roses, as well as the mile-off dining and living rooms, the gallery windows in every direction, the simmering gas fireplace, it is hard not to wonder why you weren’t charged admission at the door. It is as if someone might at any moment sit at the grand piano and with no more than a few notes bring you to tears.

There are three marvellous bedrooms on the main floor (one with a cheater ensuite) and at least a couple more below. All of them pamper you.

It is a family home, sure, but it could just as easily be one to which you retire because you know that you deserve after all those years of hard work a space that is 90% spa.

Or perhaps you both live and work here, establishing a home office because you just can’t ever bring yourself to leave. Situated just a few houses and a park from Lake Ontario in Kingston’s west end the light feels different here, it come across as downright oceanic. There are shops and restaurants at the other end of the street, and the downtown core is an easy ten-minute drive along the lake.

It is the sort of bungalow - spacious and well-renovated and elegant and well-located - that will surely cause a stir.