Horse and Jockey the auction venue for 56-acre farm in South Tipperary
The farmhouse and outbuildings on the holding at Springfield, Thurles.
For those of a certain age who remember the old N8 Dublin-Cork main road, the Horse and Jockey Hotel needs no introduction. The famous roadside hostelry and restaurant has restored the energy levels of people on their way from the capital to the ‘real capital’ or vice-versa for generations.
It is still going strong, with its location fortunately not far from the M8 motorway, and is the venue for the auction of a 56.6-acre farm in a week’s time, on Thursday, October 27.
The holding is located in the townland of Springfield, 5km west of the village of Ballingarry, about 20km southeast of Thurles and 23km northeast of Cashel.
The property enjoys a good deal of road frontage, with the public road running alongside and through the lands and it is being offered in a series of lots — eight in all.
Lot 1 consists of the entire holding of 56.59 acres of land, complete with a four-bedroom two-storey farmhouse, a hay barn and series of outbuildings.
Lot 2 is the four-bedroom house and outbuildings on ca 1.6 acres of land, with a right-of-way access
Lot 3 is the remaining 55 acres of land without the house, outbuildings and curtilage.
Lot 4 is an alternative holding of 18.85 acres of land, with ample road frontage.
Lot 5 is a 27.75-acre parcel of land with right-of-way access but without the house.
Lot 6 comprises Lot 5 and Lot 7 together, extending to 36.13 acres of land with right-of-way access.
Lot 7 is 8.37 acres of land.
Lot 8 is a 20.4-acre block with right-of-way access.
“This is medium-to-good-quality grazing land,” says selling agent John Gleeson of Thurles-based auctioneers Sherry FitzGerald Gleeson. “There seem to be a good deal of progressive farmers in the locality, with dairying being the main sector.”
The house has been well-maintained if in need of some modernisation and the outbuildings are similarly well looked after, if a little old.
With a large number of options on offer, the auction will involve a number of rounds of offers, in a time-honoured manner that the agents have ample experience with.
All the lots will be offered in turn, with any lots that receive no interest or reasonable bid on the first offering not being revisited.
“I would imagine that in round one, eight lots will be offered,” Mr Gleeson said.
“In round two, we’ll probably have discounted three or four of those. We’d probably then have a reduced number of lots in round three and there may even be a round four or a round five.”
If this property were located a little nearer to Cashel, its value could be closer to €17,000 per acre. While it is not certain that it won’t reach that level, the going rate for land in this area is a little off the hotter zones of South Tipperary.
“The land of reasonable to good quality in this area is around €11,500/acre,” said Mr Gleeson.
“We expect to be there or thereabouts with this farm... maybe up to €12,000 or €13,000/acre. It’s there to be sold in any case and with the level of local interest that is there, I expect that it will sell.”
