I farm: “In Paulstown in Co Kilkenny and Knocknagee in Co Kildare. We have 73ha (180 acres) in total, with 30ha in tillage in Kildare and the rest on grassland in Kilkenny.”

System: “I calve 65 suckler cows and sell the calves as weanlings. I’ve only ever sold in Kilkenny Mart but I am planning on moving to a beef finishing system.”

Tillage: “We grow wheat and barley but the prices are under pressure. I’ve also put in 5ac of kale.”

This week: “We are weaning calves because the ground has gotten too wet to have them out.”

Education: “I went to art college in London where I studied sculpture and from there I worked in New York coming home to work on the farm and cut the silage.”

Castle: “The farm is on the grounds of a 300-year-old castle and an 11th century graveyard which is about 50 yards from the house. People say it’s haunted by Peter Alyward whose body was stolen from a vault in the 1700s as well as by a priest who was shot out on the front field. The say the gates are haunted since the priest was shot.”

History: “My family is steeped in farming but my father bought the castle and the lands in 1991. We already had the land in Knocknagee. I came home to grow the farm about 10 years ago.”

ScareFest: “For the past seven years we’ve been running a haunted house tour of the castle called ScareFest. We opened it up on Friday 13 October and will open again this week for Halloween.”

Café: “My wife and I opened up a café in the castle in August. It’s open four days per week. It’s quite the shock to the system going from working on a farm to being in a café.”

Family: “I’m married to Ellen Christie and my parents are Elizabeth and Geoffrey. I farm in partnership with my father.”

Quotable quote: “You believe the haunted stories when you’re six but then you grow out of it. However, it still spooks you when you’re walking the dog in the graveyard and he stops dead and won’t move any further.”

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Full series: My Farming Week