One of Ireland's largest country estates, the Farnham estate, with over 1,200 acres beside Cavan town, is to be offered for sale on the international market. It has been owned by the same family since 1664 and is being sold following the death this year of Lord Farnham, Barry Owen Somerset Maxwell, the 12th Baron. His widow, Lady Farnham, and her two daughters now spend most of their time in the UK. The title has gone to his brother Simon Maxwell who also lives in England.
Joint agents HOK Country and Knight Frank in London are quoting in the region of £5 million (€6.34m) for the estate which may be sold in its entirety or in six lots. The guide price for the houses and 600 acres is over £2 million (€2.54m).
Farnham House, a handsome early 18th century mansion, is the centrepiece of one of the few remaining traditional Irish farming and sporting estates. There are more than 600 acres of parkland and rolling pasture, 500 acres of woodlands and more than 100 acres of lakes. The place has a unique timelessness and tranquillity about it. The house has four main reception rooms, 10 bedrooms, two dressing rooms and six bathrooms. It is in excellent condition, a legacy to comfortable country living.
The three-storeys over basement house has been radically altered several times over the years to suit the needs and lifestyles of the Maxwell family. The original house, designed by Francis Johnson, was considerably larger and included a Wyatt library. In the early 1960s Lord Farnham demolished a large part of it and remodelled the existing house to make it more comfortable and manageable.
The result is a most elegant home with a range of classical features including a single storey portico entrance, superb formal gardens and an impressive pediment front supporting the family coat of arms. There is a particularly stunning elliptical staircase hall with a stone stairs and an attractive balustrade rising to the first floor. One of the bookcases from the Wyatt library in the original house has been inserted in the alcove of the former staircase window.
There are portraits everywhere of family members, memorabilia and mementoes of the past. A specially printed diary recalls the cricket matches and players at Farnham around the turn of the last century. Another diary gives accounts of the shooting seasons when woodcock, teal and rabbits were the main quarry. With such vast woodlands and new plantations throughout the estate, Farnham is likely to appeal to syndicates interesting in developing driven pheasant shoots and duck shooting.
The hall of the main house opens directly into a lovely old drawingroom, beautifully proportioned with attractive marble chimney piece, polished wooden floors, decorative cornicing and tall windows overlooking the formal gardens and the parklands below. There is a door leading into an equally impressive boudoir and, across a hall, a comfortable diningroom, somewhat smaller than you would expect for a house of this size and importance. There is a range of other rooms including kitchen, breakfast hall and a billiard room.
The main staircase rises to a superb gallery with window seats. The principal bedroom has any number of period features and windows overlooking the gardens. An en suite bathroom and separate dressingroom add modern comforts. Two of the three other bedrooms on this floor have en suite facilities. A timber staircase leads to a most interesting oval landing on the second floor where there are a further four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
The terraced south-facing gardens have all the signs of being there for over three centuries. There is conventional box hedging framing the western parkland which has ancient redwood, cedar, copper beech, Scots pine and yew trees. The gardens are bounded on one side by a walled garden still happily cultivated with great care and attention. A two-storey orchard cottage is located along the boundary of the walled garden. There are six other cottages and three period estate yards which, like other parts of the estate, must have commercial potential considering they are within two miles of Cavan town.
The estate includes the 100 acre-plus Farnham Lake and large areas of two other lakes which form part of the great network of loughs and islands stretching southwards from Upper Lough Erne.
