Cork-Waterford property for bidders to battle over
This weekend, many minds in the neighbouring counties of Waterford and Cork will be focused on a certain All- Ireland hurling semi-final taking place in Croke Park.
As with all fixtures between neighbours, the clash is sure to be full-blooded and competitive.
However, far from Croke Park, all will remain blissful and scenic right at the most southerly point where Waterford and Cork meet on the map, where the River Blackwater broadens into a meandering tidal waterway.
The area around here is more wooded than the average piece of Irish countryside and is characterised by plenty of rich land from former estates that often feature dense, mature woodland surrounding a palatial house on the riverfront. It is near here that a large portion of farmland is for sale, located just north of Youghal (6km away), hugging the silted left bank of the Blackwater as it bends majestically on its course towards the Celtic Sea.
The 83-acre property is currently listed with the Douglas, Cork office of DNG Creedon.
Although the agents are best known for their successful public auction series, this farm is unlikely to go down the auction route, according to selling agent Shane Finn.
The L-shaped holding and has about 150m of road frontage at its northernmost extremity. It is at this point where the most fertile and valuable sections of it are to be found, with elevated sloping fields with a southerly aspect.
These are all currently in grass and in good condition.
Closer to the banks of Ireland’s third-longest river, the land quality is lesser.
Access to these parts isn’t a problem, as there is a good internal road network.
There are sections of forestry along here, including a long thin strip that runs northwards along the river bank. It is composed of a mixture of wood types, including native hardwoods.
The strip of land dominated by forestry is on a separate folio, and has its own separate access point from a cul-de-sac public road that ends with the shoreline, with a view across the Blackwater to the Templemichael Tower House and Rectory.
From the coastal stretches of the holding, the views are stunning, and they become even more the further south you go, particularly as you near the “new bridge” that carries the N25 across the broad river.
Here, the views take in both counties, with the wide vista dominated by river, wooded banks, harbour and headlands, in a natural wetland zone that has been declared as being of “international importance” for the last 20 years.
The property price guide is set at €650,000 (€7,800/acre).
Given the amount of forestry and poorer sections of land, it’s a price that would appear to accurately reflect its value.
One would envisage the property going in two lots, in accordance with the separate folios, and that there would be a mixture of pragmatic agricultural interest, and interest from those dreaming of a piece of paradise on the Blackwater.
Time will tell; there’s a lot of hurling to be played between now and then.
