Originally brought to the market last year for sale by private treaty, joint selling agents Liam Reilly Auctioneers, Ballinagh, and Robert Nixon & Co, Kells, changed tack last month when they decided to try the auction room to sell Woodlawn Farm in Crover, Mountnugent, Co Cavan.

The decision proved a wise one, as the 136 acre Woodlawn Farm sold in four separate lots over the course of the day, with two lots sold under the hammer and the other two sold privately.

Before a crowd of up to 70 people in the Headford Arms Hotel, Kells, selling agent Robert Nixon offered the 136 acre farm, which includes a two-storey Georgian residence and a range of farm buildings, for sale in its entire.

An opening bid of €750,000 got proceedings under way. Two active bidders – one a businessman from Northern Ireland and the other a Meath farmer – brought the price along quite quickly until an offer of €900,000 was reached.

Receiving no further offers for the farm in its entire, Robert Nixon moved on to try the farm in lots. Lot one, which extended to the period house and farm buildings set on c47.4 acres, received an opening bid of €200,000 with offers rising briskly to €270,000 before stalling.

Moving on, Nixon then offered the second lot, which comprised almost 57acres. The Meath auctioneer received an opening bid of €250,000 and bidding went no further. He then moved to offer the third lot, which extended to just over 30 acres. Bidding for this lot opened at €200,000 and advanced as far as €220,000.

Nixon then offered the final lot, which comprised a three-bed bungalow set on c1.3 acres. From an opening bid of €80,000, two bidders advanced their offers as far as €100,000.

Having offered both the entire and the lots for sale, Nixon decided to try around the room again with the offer on lot one increasing to €300,000 and the bid on lot two increasing to €280,000. The offer on the third lot also increased to €240,000, while there was no movement on the €100,000 offer for the bungalow on c1.3 acres.

Having consulted with the vendors, Robert Nixon placed two of the lots on the market. Lot two, extending to 57 acres, received no further bids and was knocked down to a dairy and beef farmer for €280,000 or €4,910/acre.

The third lot of 30 acres was also put on the market, with a number of new offers bringing it up to a final price of €255,000 or €8,500/acre. The buyer is said to be a local businessman. The first and fourth lots were withdrawn and private negotiations were entered into.

Lot one, which comprised the Georgian house and farm buildings on 47 acres, was eventually sold privately to a Cavan buyer for a price above the final offer of €300,000. Similarly, the bungalow on c1.3 acres also sold in a private deal to a retired buyer for a price above the final offer of €100,000.

All told, Woodlawn Farm sold for a combined price not far off its original guide of €1m to €1.1m. CL