If you are running late for an appointment the bye-roads of Offaly are not the place to make up time. If you are lucky enough not to damage the sump of your car you are still likely to get stuck behind something, in my case this included a Massey Fergusson baler, a trailer load of turf and a pig lorry.

With the benefit of hindsight, I advise any person heading for Ballinla Farm to go through the bustling town of Edenderry, along the Tullamore/Edenderry main road. The largest farm to come on the market this year (1,090ac) is just 45 minutes from Dublin and a small section of it bounds the main road at the turn off for the village of Ballyfore. While the address may be Offaly, Ballinla Farm is not far from the borders of Co Westmeath or Co Kildare.

You pass by lots one, two and three on your way up to the main part of the farm at lot four. At the entrance you are greeted by a tarmacadam driveway better than most roads. The 1km drive up to the yard has the most pleasant view on the left hand side of a 175ac field of wheat, with tramlines stretching as far as the eye can see.

Residence

Halfway up the drive is Penny Lodge, a five-bedroom house that is one of two residences on the property. Penny Lodge is used as the family home. Meanwhile the four-bedroom Georgian house built in 1842, which is closer to the farmyard, has been unoccupied for a number of years. It has been maintained well but is in need of refurbishment. The garden surrounding the Georgian residence cleverly draws the eye with lawns and parkland trees through the fields.

The four-bedroom Georgian house was built in 1842.

The farm

The concreted farmyard is about 4.5ac in size and is currently used as a depot for Drummonds but will be sold with vacant possession. There is a weighbridge which is beside an office and lab for testing grain. There are three grain stores, all have under-floor ventilation and fill from overhead. The most recently built grain store was constructed in 2007 and has 20ft high reinforced concrete walls with insulated panel sheeting, fans at both ends and a gantry conveyor for overhead filling. It’s hard to convey the size of this shed, but a JCB loader sitting in it looks small. There are underground grain intake hoppers. There are two Alvan blanch grain driers with a 35t/h combined capacity and a seed grain drier with the capacity for 5t/h. Anyone drying grain will want a back-up plan in case something goes on fire. In this case there is a 100,000-gallon concrete-covered water tank and a 50,000-gallon steel water tank which are both fed by an aquifer under the yard. When Irish Country Living visited a sprayer was being filled from one of these tanks. Other buildings in the yard include a workshop and a large slatted shed for sheep. There is also a radio mast from which a rental income is derived.

The yard covers about 4.5ac.

Moving out of the yard there are a further 7km of roadway that would be the envy of any farmer in the country. The grassland is used for sheep and every boundary is well fenced. There is even a small paddock for any sick animals. There are a number of rental income streams on the farm including an ESB substation and a radio mast. In the middle of one of the sheep fields there is also a Met Éireann weather station, another source of income, and the farmer also benefits from having accurate updates on weather conditions and rainfall on the farm. The second-largest field on the farm is 84ac and is currently in barley, with buffer strips around the headlands. What is striking about taking a tour of this farm is that the hedgerows are not that old. They range from 8ft to possibly 16ft in height, but they were likely planted at some stage during the current owner’s lifetime. Along the more mature rows of trees are feeders for red squirrels and bird boxes. There are deep drains running along some of the hedges and in mid-June most were dry, while the ones closer to the forestry had a few inches of water sitting in them.

There are 180ac of forestry in total on the farm; mostly mature and semi mature trees.

You will pass fields of peas, oats and kale before you reach the forestry. There are 180ac of this in total, some of it oak and most of it Sitka and Norway Spruce. There is predominately mature or semi-mature trees in this managed forestry, with a few acres of immature trees also. The forest and seven fields on the 887ac block of ground in lot four back on to the Grand Canal, but the farm does not cross it at any point. A small five acre field contains a little lake where herons, swans and ducks can be seen. A mini wildlife reserve if you will. Stephen Barry, of selling agent Raymond Potterton auctioneers, says that the lake was dug out to get gravel for the farm roadways.

“The back 10ac is as well maintained as the front 10ac, which is very rare. I think it is the 8km of roads, and the quality of the roads that has allowed that to happen,” Stephen said. “There’s not a drain not looked after. None of this farm is wasted and it can all be put to good use for whatever industry; from vegetables to dairy.”

In total, there are 720ac of tillage, 190ac of grassland and 180ac of forestry. It is all in one block and benefits from 5km of road frontage. It has been built up to this size by three generations of the vendor’s family, but they have decided to sell for health and succession reasons.

One of the fields is 175ac in size.

The lots

It is being offered in five lots.

Lot 1 – 78ac in five divisions and runs behind some of the houses in the village of Ballyfore. It also has road frontage along part of the main road.

Lot 2 – 74ac at Rogerstown in two divisions, currently in barley and wheat.

Lot 3 – A 61ac field at Ballinla currently in wheat.

Lot 4 – 877ac at Ballinla including the yard, two houses and the forestry.

Lot 5 – The entire.

The guide price is between €9m and €10m for the entire. The selling agent is Raymond Potterton auctioneers, Navan. The farm will go under the hammer on 11 August at 3pm at The Johnstown Estate Hotel, Enfield. CL