Property: Rare 202-Acre Chunk of Cork-and-Kerry Mountain Farm for Sale
From the famous coastal village with a tourism industry as old as Killarney’s, the N71 winds its way towards Kenmare in dramatic fashion.
The stunning scenery opens up on the valleys and mountains and the border into the Kingdom is crossed by way of a rough-hewn narrow tunnel under the Cork and Kerry mountains.
Shortly before you reach this border, there is a large area of national parkland and just beyond this area, the valleys have traditionally provided self-sustaining farming activity, mostly dominated by sheep farming.
The challenges of the landscape mean that farming practices haven’t changed much over the last 40 years in this part of the world.
It isn’t often that a large tract of this land comes up for sale so it’s a rare commodity that Irish Rural Homes are presenting to the market in the form of a 202-acre residential hill farm at Derreenavroonig, Glengarriff.
It’s the kind of property that might well appeal more to the dreamer than to the hard-nosed businessman and yet there is plenty of business here too.
The brochure describes it as an “idyllic West Cork farm” and it certainly seems to be stronger on idyll than on productivity. Then again, that depends on what rate of productivity one is interested in.
“If you want to get off the grid and get away from it all, you really are away from it with this farm,” says selling agent Mary Cotter of Ballydehob-based Irish Rural Homes. “It’s basic but very much liveable.”
The land, she says, is mountain grazing in the most part.
“There are, however, about four acres of good pasture around the house and outbuildings. It’s basically a sheep farm and that’s what it has been used as.”
Aside from the four acres of good grazing, there are approximately 50 acres of medium-grade grazing and a further 148 acres of mountain grazing.
The condition of the house is sound but in need of some modernising, according to the agents.
It’s well supplied with the basic necessities such as water and electricity and the location is very aesthetically pleasing, — “a delightful aspect overlooking surrounding farmland, forestry and mountains.” There are three bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and bathroom.
Despite its quiet setting, the main road is only a short distance away and Glengarriff itself is just a 7km drive.
“There are some nice little stone outbuildings there,” says Mary. “You could probably turn them into something as well and the house itself has everything there — electricity, a basic kitchen, a shower and toilet. It needs a little TLC. Functional is the word that comes to mind but it can be brought up to date.”
According to Mary, this farm would be ideal for somebody that wants to lead a self-sufficient farming lifestyle — the kind of farming that most Irish people were involved in going back several decades.
There has been interest locally for some of the better parts of the farm land but this is a property that will be sold in its entirety.
Access to the farm is good with a public roadway ending in a cul-de-sac providing the link to the rest of the faster-paced world. Its higher northern and north-western flanks constitute the Cork-Kerry boundary.
The market/tourist town of Kenmare is 23km away, while Bantry is 25km.
The asking price for this rare piece of Cork-and-Kerry mountainous heaven is €500,000.
At just under €2,500 per acre, it would appear to be a reasonable price — valued with current agricultural trends in mind (where the poorer land seems to be the sector increasing in price) as well as that X-factor that makes it such an attraction for the hobby farmer.
