The room was packed in the Step House Hotel in Borris for last week’s auction of a 77-acre residential farm situated at Knockclonagad House, Garryhill, Fenagh, Co Carlow. This property offered the full package in terms of residence, land and yard, all kept in pristine order by the owners for the past 18 years. On the day, active bidding from three interested parties saw the hammer fall at €985,000 for the entire – well ahead of the €800,000 guide price. At the auction, selling agent Raymond Potterton Auctioneers, Navan, initially offered the property in two lots. The house and yard on circa 65 acres was bid to €710,000 while the remaining circa 12 acres peaked at €132,000. This gave a combined total of €842,000. With that, the entire opened at €850,000 and steadily progressed to €960,000 with the help of three bidders. After being declared on the market at €960,000, one bidder dropped out but the other two continued to bid in €5,000 increments all the way to the drop of the hammer at €985,000 (almost €12,800/acre). The buyer is a farmer from Co Carlow but is not believed to be local. The other two bidders were also from outside the area.