38 acres with lake and road frontage in Leap, West Cork
This is a part of the country renowned for good quality land — not the West Cork of wild stone-strewn fields lashed by the Atlantic waves, but the gentler but nonetheless alluring West Cork of progressive dairy farms.
A non-residential farm of 37.5 acres has just been brought to the market by Hodnett Forde auctioneers of Clonakilty. According to selling agent John Hodnett, this is a holding of mixed quality that has plenty of potential.
“Roughly half of it would be of good quality… there’s 30-odd acres of good grassland.”
The farm is fragmented into seven different portions — with the bulk of the land making up one block, and a public road separating lots.
“There’s very good road frontage there, and some of the land fronts onto Ballinlough Lake.”
All the land is located in the townland of Ballinlough, which is about 3km north of the famous village of Leap; named after the legendary escape “leap” of Chieftain O’Donovan.
The aesthetic charm of the lake frontage (which is available on three of the seven lots) is not to be underestimated in terms of the land’s potential value.
It’s a variable that only the market will decide, but it’s Lot 5 that has the most impressive amount of lake frontage; a 7-acre portion that is itself in two separate parcels.
Lot 2, the second-largest of the lots, at 8.5 acres, enjoys frontage onto two public roads, as well as a sliver of lake frontage. The same can be said of Lot 1, which also boasts some river frontage.
The acreages of the remaining lots are as follows: Lot 3 (6.4 acres), Lot 4 (10.1 acres), Lot 6 (0.5 acres) and Lot 7 (1.5 acres).
“It can be sold in one lot, or in seven manageable lots,” says John. “It’s in a great location and it’s certainly suited for either an add-on farm or for someone looking at a hobby farm.
“It’s just five minutes’ drive to Leap village and there’s water adjacent, as well as electricity.”
The fragmented nature of the farm points to a strong possibility of it being sold off in lots to a variety of interests.
As such, the agents are slow to give an overall value.
They expect the better quality fields to make around €10,000/acre, with the remaining acreage achieving somewhat less, as determined by an already-interested market.
