Armagh estate on the market at £1.75m

The land, the farmyard, the house and the setting: it’s hard to find fault with any aspect of Dartan Hall, a property recently put on the market in Co Armagh.

The farm extends to 117 acres, with the dwelling house and farmyard centrally located in the single block of land. The property near Killylea village has a guide price of £1.75m (€1.91m) and its sale is being managed by Newry-based auctioneers Best Property Services.

Around 112 acres is good-quality, dry land that is currently in grass but has potential for arable farming. The remaining five acres is woodland and there are around 600 matures trees on the property, mostly oak, ash and beech. There are also around 100 younger trees that were planted within the last 10 years as part of an agri-environment scheme.

The land is mostly free-draining and soils are generally dry with a sandy component. There are also limestone soils in parts of the farm and soil nutrients have been well managed as significant quantities of pig slurry is available from several large-scale pig units located nearby.

Two private laneways off Kennedies Road lead to the house and farmyard and, along with two more laneways running through the farm, there is good access to most fields. There are ten evenly sized fields in total.

Basic Payment entitlements are not being sold with the farm.

Fences

A mains-powered electric fence runs around the perimeter of the farm and fences between fields are either electric, barbed wire or hedgerows. Drinkers are supplied by mains water, but there are four springs on the farm that are currently collected and piped into a river, meaning there is potential for a private water supply.

The current owner was involved in suckler beef and pedigree cattle breeding and so the yard has good facilities for working with cattle, including a crush, outside pens and a weigh bridge.

The main shed is a 200ft by 46ft slatted house. The shed can hold 250 cattle in 14 pens and a significant amount of space around the building means it could be easily renovated or extended for more pens or cubicles.

There is a 120ft by 36ft open clamp silo that drains into the eight-foot-deep tank below the slatted house. There is a 60ft by 24ft solid floor shed laid out in five bull pens and there are a range of traditional stone buildings around the courtyard that’s located between the house and the main farmyard.

House

Dartan Hall itself is a two storey Victorian period house. It was built between 1850 and 1860 by the Cross family who were settlers from Lancashire, England. The house extends to 4,000 square foot of living accommodation and it has a basement with substantial natural lighting

After laying vacant for 20 years, the house was renovated extensively when it was purchased by the current owner in 1987 and has been well maintained since.

There is a drawing room, living room, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor and a master bedroom with en suite, three other bedrooms and a bathroom are located upstairs. There is both oil-fired central heating and a wood-fuelled boiler in the house.

The property is in a private location with very few other houses seen from the house or yard. Dartan Hall is six miles from Armagh city and 45 miles from Belfast.

A gate lodge in need of refurbishment is located at the start of the main avenue to the property and can be included in the sale.

As well as bids for the whole property, consideration is also being given to offers for the house and 30 acres of land around it. The closing date for all types of offers is 12 October 2017. CL