Idyllic estate sells 300-acre farmland in private sale

One of the oldest, most significant and sublime estates in North Cork, Annes Grove House, in Castletownroche, has sold its farm of about 300 acres.

Held by the Annesley family for innumerable generations, and famous for its Robsonian garden (it’s a gardener’s mecca), the home farm is sale agreed in a private sale to, it’s believed, an east Cork farmer, from the Conna area.

The sale of the land will allow the family to concentrate on the house and gardens, perhaps, while the farmland, regarded as some of the best in the country, will transfer to the new buyer once contracts are exchanged.

It’s also likely the Annesley family chose their purchaser carefully — the gardens and house are, realistically, a heritage site, and a good neighbour would have been essential to the maintenance of both, it appears.