Selling agent David Quinn, Carnew and Gorey, sold a 98-acre plantation situated in Ballard, Ballinaclash, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, after last week’s public auction.

The land, which has been in Christmas trees for the past 20 years, had been harvested, but the remnants of the stumps still remained.

Generating interest from a mix of farmers and forestry-based businesses, David initially offered the property in two lots.

The first lot of 36 acres attracted two interested parties and it peaked at €190,000. The remaining 62 acres, which are 500 metres away, went to €275,000. This gave a combined total of €465,000. With that, an offer of €470,000 was put on the entire, at which stage it was decided to withdraw all three lots.

After some post-auction negotiations, it’s understood that a deal was agreed on the entire for an undisclosed sum thought to be substantially higher than €470,000.

The buyer is believed to be a lady with forestry interests. The farm was guided at €5,000 to €6,000/acre before the auction.

Prior to being planted, the land was used for farming and would have been regarded as “good upland grazing”.