€320,000 price tag for 127-acre farm near The Top of Coom
Located in an elevated rural setting in West Cork just 3km west of the Gaeltacht village of Coolea, a large residential holding is attracting interest locally and farther afield, due in part to the rarity of such a sizeable block of land coming on the market.
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This isn’t an area renowned for top class land and the price guide of €320,000 very much reflects that. The property does have a number of charms, however.
There are certainly no plans for a public auction at this point, but this is a private treaty sale that is already attracting interest from different quarters for a rare and intriguing farm.
The 127-acre holding is in the townland of Scrahan, with Ballingeary 18km to the south and Macroom approximately 23km away. Access is very good, with a minor public road cutting through the farm, and creating a good deal of road frontage.
The property is offered, therefore, in three logical lots, They are the house on two acres (Lot 1), the remaining 125 acres (Lot 2), and the entire holding (Lot 3).
According to Macroom-based selling agent Killian Lynch, this is a farm composed of scrub land in the main but with some good grazing. “It’s all in one block divided by a minor public roadway,” confirms Killian.
“There is an awful lot of it which is mountain land but of the entirety, there would be about 40 acres of grazing land. The rest of it is mostly scrub land.”
This is, therefore, a property that will be of interest first and foremost to those looking for forestry plantation land.
It ticks a lot of boxes in terms of suitability, including decent access.
The area around Coolea is well-known for a number of reasons. In the first place, this is a Gaeltacht area where Irish is still very much a living language.
Probably its most famous inhabitant was the composer Seán Ó Riada, who became the only composer to combine Irish traditional music with the European classical musical tradition in his masterpiece, “Mise Éire”.
The region’s wild beauty has featured in a number of films, including “Song for a Raggy Boy” and the Palme d’Or-winning “The Wind that Shakes the Barley”.
Another local and unique attraction is the highest pub in Ireland, located just 5km from this farm on the Cork/Kerry border.
“The Top of Coom” is a legendary watering hole that has featured in numerous news stories and cultural references over the years.
All of this adds some magic to the mix, and it is no surprise, therefore, to learn that there has been a good degree of local interest in the property, added to the interest coming from an investment/forestry perspective.
The farmhouse is a strong feature as well. Its quiet, roadside location makes for an eye-catching project for those seeking a pretty house on two acres in some solitude.
There is a good degree of renovation work to be done, according to the selling agents, but there is a very strong base on which to work for the right kind of client:
“We’ve a guide price for the farmhouse and outbuildings on two acres of €80,000,” says Killian.
“The house is in need of renovation throughout, and there’s a good variety of old outbuildings coming with the farmhouse. In total, the farmhouse comes to about 1,300 square feet.”
The 125 acres of land in Lot 2 is being offered at a price guide of €240,000 and this has been attracting a good deal of local interest, according to Killian.
“We’ve interested parties already locally for the land. I suppose for such a large volume of land, the price of €240,000 is a real opportunity that many are interested in.”
