In what is likely to be one of the biggest country estate sales this year, Kilfinnan Castle, a landmark property in west Cork's Glandore has sold for an estimated €6million. The quiet off market sale of the home of the late businessman Bernard McNicholas finalised in recent days and the new owner is understood to be an English businessman and his Irish wife who is originally from the area. Auctioneers Charles and Maeve McCarthy who brokered the deal declined to comment on the sale or the buyer.

Located on one of the finest coastal sites in west Cork, Kilfinnan Castle stands on just 25 acres just beyond Glandore overlooking Adam and Eve islands. It was lovingly restored to former glory when McNicholas - the one time owner of successful London-based firm McNicholas Engineering - bought it as a dilapidated ruin and restored it as a much loved family home in recent years. McNicholas died in 2015 and is buried locally.

West Cork seems to be bucking the trend at the upper end of the sluggish country market, with a number of very strong sales recorded in the region in the last six months. Two recent big sales in particular were recorded in Kinsale when in December, a modern Miami-style beachhouse, Corafinne, popped up on the price register having sold for €2.55 million. Then in January, Ardcarrig, a semi-d with harbour views on Compass Hill, appeared sold for € 1.79million. Both Kinsale sales were completed through local agent Engel & Volkers.

To put these sales in context the biggest country home sale in Ireland for all of 2018 was the €3.4million sale of Dowdstown House in Maynooth, followed only by a €2million estate sale in Kildare. West Cork's rising fortunes may signal a better year ahead for the country homes market following a prolonged spell in the doldrums.