Facing the seventh fairway of the Old Del Monte Golf Course, a gently secluded house is privately bursting with life. It surrenders to the protection of mature hedges and depths of tiered shrubbery so that only the double garage is visible from the street. But once inside, light fills the rooms and vistas of multiple, differentiated gardens from a range of windowed perspectives transfix one’s gaze. This is a house with an immediately easy feeling.

Entering through double front doors at the top of the steps, one finds an entry hall wide enough to be furnished, with a vaulted ceiling shared by the whole main area of the house. A wall between the foyer and the family/breakfast room on the other side of it reaches only eight feet high. When returning home, one’s greeting is heard by anyone there. It’s an enchanting home without any obvious signs of effort to make it so. That does not dismiss, however, the definite effect of a house so comfortable one is inclined to linger.

Relaxing deeply into a huge couch in one of the seating areas of the living room, Bob Henning credits his wife: “It’s all Gibby. She has given this house so much of herself—put all the good feeling into it.”

No specific designation of living room and dining room is part of the architecture, which means the opportunity for a wide open setting is there and may suit others very well. What Gibby has done is create two separate gathering areas with distinctively different character and social uses. In the first, immediately off the foyer where Bob’s couch rests along the opposite wall from a fireplace, a huge square coffee table, occasional chairs, side tables, a bookcase, and a large oriental rug create a coziness that belies the true size of that section.

Continue further and an entirely unique yet integrated area with small settees and a delicate glass table is set into one corner of a room made up of sliders facing south and an over-sized picture window. The window reveals the seventh fairway through dappled shadows cast there by a line of Monterey Pines, and the sliders lead to a brick, south-facing patio surrounded by gardens. Inside, a pair of settees and a small coffee table, beautifully inviting like everything else in the home, are part of an atmosphere of quiet relaxation that the area imparts.

Indicating the garden, Bob says, “That camillia bush out there is the largest one in the county.” One would not second guess that, especially since it’s blooming to beat a Mardi Gras float right now. “Gibby has a secret rose garden out there too,” he says.

The Hennings work together on their several gardens and outdoor ‘bonding areas,’ as Gibby calls the interwoven levels and places to gather on patios set with varying tables, chairs and umbrellas. The property is half an acre.

A good sized-section of it in the rear and to the north side is natural. Great sweeping boughs from the redwoods there skim through glades of clover and over mossy logs.

Golf balls have been found clear back there too, hit completely over the house and nestled into the fauna. “You can pick up a dozen free ones a week from this yard, all year long,” Bob says with a twinkle.

Gibby and Bob have made a wonderful place that will remain so even when they move to Sacramento to be closer to family. The depth of warmth and welcome is irrevocable.

Price: $1,199,000. 1289 Sylvan Rd., Monterey. Contact Dick Henning, Coldwell Banker at (408) 718-2277.