237 Hotham Street, Ripponlea VIC 3185

Step behind these high garden walls and find your secret garden in the heart of it all. Beautifully positioned between Elsternwick's booming retail and rail strip, Ripponlea's cosmopolitan shopping village, train station and Elwood's prime beach side village. This enchanting free-standing Edwardian is a secluded garden sanctuary - set well back beyond a leafy lawn-free garden and accessed easily from the rear with auto-gated parking from a bluestone lane.

Impeccably maintained and immaculately presented, this period beauty follows a traditional design with two bedrooms supplemented by lounge and formal dining rooms with high ceilings and a sun-filled garden-access casual living area beyond the central kitchen. Sparkling with leadlight, scaled up with lofty ceilings and floored by warm Baltic Pine boards, all the period beauty is here – alongside timeless timber kitchen and bathroom finishes, and textural pebbled carpets.

Appointed for today with ducted heating plus energy-efficient Swedish LVI Thermosoft electric panel-heating, there's a fireplace for every room (including decorative tiled and mantled originals), and tall built-in robes for both bedrooms. Even the tranquil gardens combine timeless style and today's lifestyle – with the pergola-sheltered exposed-aggregate parking area designed to do dual duty as a pretty vine-draped al fresco area.

Lovingly cared for by the current owner, this instantly welcoming home is ready to be enjoyed now whilst offering future potential for a second story extension subject to council approval.

Just 350m to Glen Huntly Rd and Elsternwick station, and a few blocks' walk to Ripponlea's cafes, restaurants and shopping, this 'secret garden' is at the heart of a vibrant lifestyle locale – just a walk through the new wetlands reserve to Elwood's beachside hospitality strip, and an easy commute to the CBD by road, rail or tram. Close to a wide array of Melbourne's premier schools.