Two impressive farms
A 176-acre farm is up for auction next week on July 17 and carries a pre-auction guide of €12,000 per acre. This bullish guide price is indicative of the quality of the land, the location, and proximity to Dublin.
“It’s a smashing farm, just outside Naas and looking down on Naas Racecouse — and it’s only 30 minutes to O’Connell St in good traffic,” says Jordan, who’s selling the non-residential holding at Fornaughts Great, near Furness, Co Kildare for its owner, who’s retiring.
Renowned for its quality, the farm has been used for drystock and tillage but is highly adaptable and would suit any farming enterprise, says Jordan.
Close to Michael Smurfit’s Fornaught Stud, it’s a no-brainer it will be eyed up by equestrian buyers — the limestone base is ideal for horse breeding and the location near the Curragh and the city makes it even more attractive.
Likewise, farmer buyers will appreciate the quality of the land, which is all in one tidy block with 40 acres under tillage and the rest under grass. Buildings include a large slatted unit, a double, four-span barn with lean-tos and a capacity for more than 150 head, plus grain store and machinery shed. And it has over 1km of road frontage in its location between Kill and Johnstown, the agent says.
He’s giving a strong guide prior to auction and expects the farm to do well — interest has been good and the farm will be offered in the entire and in lots on the day. Lots include the yard and 146 acres as Lot 2, a small parcel of land with frontage onto the River Kill as Lot 2, this comprises of 29.5 acres, and Lot 1 is the entire farm.
It will be a tough battle between the bloodstock buyers and farmers for this one, it appears, but either way buyers will need the resources to snap up this farm at the total guide price of €2.11m, or 30 acres at a mere €360,000.
Meanwhile, the same agent is selling another substantial farm in Co Wicklow in the townlands of Friar Hill and the evocative Man O War, where 158 acres of land is on offer, all of it under pasture.
The property has been used for drystock and some sheep grazing, says Jordan, and is a residential sale with a traditional two-storey dormer farmhouse included.
The farm is just outside Dunlavin, near Kilcullen and Ballymore Eustace on the Kildare/Wicklow border. Naas is 20km away and Blessington is almost the same distance.
The farm comes with large shale deposits, says the agent, who’s seeking offers in the region of €7,500 per acre for the entire, which is on the market by private treaty.
And while the land divides into three tidy 50-acre parcels, according to Jordan, a sale in the entire is preferred.
“The entire farm is well fenced and has been well farmed and the farmyard includes facilities for 150 head with a small slatted unit, cubicle shed, seven-span haybarn and a straw-bedded shed with sheep handling facilities and dip trough. There is a private well and mains water on the property and a two-storey derelict farmhouse.”
