Big interest expected in Dunmanway farm sale

A substantial farm sale, north of Dunmanway, Co Cork, is a new private treaty sale with auctioneer Daniel Lehane.

The Curraghdrinagh property is close to Dunmanway town, and comprises 110 acres in two blocks, which the agent is prepared to sell in lots. A residential farm, it comes with a traditional farmhouse which has seen better days, but is not beyond a makeover.

Farm buildings are at a minimum, but there’s a good straw-bedded cattle house, says Daniel Lehane, and a usable hayshed with lean-to, which would allow grazing straight away for an expanding farmer.

The reason it may be snapped up is that the farm has about 39 acres of good quality, level grassland, freshly reseeded pasture land which comes with 40 acres of enclosed forestry, bringing the total of this lot to 79 acres. The forestry has 18 years of grant aid left for qualifying buyers, and would bring in approximately €7,000 per annum, says Lehane.

This lot also includes the house and farm buildings, and interest has been very good, he adds.

“This is a decent package and is attracting local interest, but given the size, we are also getting interest from far away.

“The good land is guided at about €10,000 per acre, and forestry at €3,000 to €3,500.

The other lot is the wild card of the pack, because it’s mostly bog, says Lehane. But there is potential to reclaim a couple of fields to the east of the land, which had been grazed before they fell to rushes.

All in, the property would have a rough value of €500,000, but the agent is open to all comers for this executor’s sale.