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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty goes all watery-eyed at a marine residence in Rye, New York.

Houses by water command some of the highest prices in real estate because they are in the most demand – a) there are fewer of them and b) water is the greatest lure in real estate.

So I gasped a little when I visited 6 Pine Island Road, Rye, New York. It is wonderful. Once this little spit of land was an island until someone created a short causeway and built this house. Now, with water on three sides, this home offers the ultimate in waterside living without actually being afloat.

This is a house for water lovers; those people who may settle on the best mooring before they settle on the best wallpaper. Here the anchorage may be more important than the garage. It wouldn’t take much longer to cross the Sound to Long Island by fast boat for dinner than drive in a car the three miles to a Greenwich restaurant.

Down by the shore the egrets stalk their fishy prey at low tide and other coastal birds can become as familiar as the neighbours.  The view is across the Long Island Sound to the Long Island Gold Coast. In-between lies Execution Rock marked with a navigation light. It is reputed that the British chained Patriots to the rock at low tide and let nature do the rest – a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean but without such a happy ending.

If nautical themes are your thing in decorating then this is the place for you. All that is great in design from Newport, Cape Cod, The Hamptons and Nantucket can be expressed here – but unlike these other marine idylls Rye is only 50 minutes by train to Manhattan.

But the real value here is the life this house will provide for the buyer, the buyer’s children and perhaps the buyer’s grandchildren. Just provide the family, throw in a boat or two and some life jackets and add water. Bliss.