On track for €2m: The 171ac farm with a period house hits the market in Offaly

Ashmount House at Cloneygowan, Co Offaly is among a number of substantial residential farms to come on the market this summer.

The 171ac farm with a period house and yard can be bought in lots or as an entire and comes to auction with a guide price of €2m.

The property is located near Cloneygowan village about 19km from Tullamore and 6km from Portarlington with access to the M7 and M6.

The holding includes the house and yard, while the land is comprised of tillage, grazing, forestry and Christmas trees.

Built around 1850 the residence is a three-bay, two-storey construction that has had various additions over the years and now covers 2,583sqft. It is reached by a tarmacadam drive and set in mature gardens with some lovely stands of trees.

The house is in sound structural condition and was completely re-plumbed and rewired in the last eleven years. It is heated with oil-fired central heating and while the sliding timber sash windows were fully restored four years ago other windows are in a mix of timber and PVC.

The accommodation includes an entrance hall, a drawing room, dining room, a kitchen with a Stanley range and built-in presses, while other downstairs accommodation includes a guest WC, a utility and a family bathroom. There is also a space that could be used as a study or a bedroom.

Upstairs, on the return is a bathroom while the first floor is home to five bedrooms and a family bathroom. The house maintains many of the original Georgian features such as ornate plasterwork and timber floors.

To the rear of the house is a traditional yard with a number of stores and sheds including a lofted workshop. The farmyard is accessed by its own entrance and includes a range of modern and older buildings.

These include a four-column, slatted hay shed with dry bed lean-to sheds for up to 45 sucklers.

There is also a range of cattle handling facilities along with a silage slab and a four-span hayshed with a lean-to.

The farm coming to 171ac is divided by the railway line with the house and yards on 40ac to the south of the line and about 124.5ac to the north and a small 6.35ac separated from the rest.

Premiums

The land is in grass (94ac), tillage (40ac) and 37.5ac of forestry. A 35ac portion of forestry was planted in 2000 and attracts €7,490 in annual premiums with two years remaining, while 2.5ac of Christmas trees planted 20 years ago has no premium remaining.

The farm will be offered in lots with the house and yard on 4ac guided at €275,000, 36ac adjoining the house guided at €9,000/ac while the house and yards on 40ac at the southern side of the railway line is guided at €590,000.

The 124.5ac north of the railway is guided at €6,500/ac while the 6.35ac parcel is guided at €9,000/ac.

Auctioneer Paddy Jordan says the farm has been well managed and well looked after over the years with good fencing and good shelter maintained.

He is expecting a range of local interest in the lots and a combination of local and outside interest on the entire when the property comes to auction at the Tullamore Court at 3pm on Thursday, July 6.