Co Kilkenny: Kate McMorrow visits an 11-acre organic holding in Co Kilkenny with a three-bedroom farm house on the market for €275,000

Fans of Channel 4's River Cottage series and its exuberant subject, Hugh Fernley Whittingstall, will identify with a very special property new to the market in the Kilkenny area.

FitzGerald Auctioneers is guiding €275,000 prior to auction on October 16th for Tinalinton, a white-washed three-bedroom farmhouse on 11 acres at Conaty, near Castlecomer in Co Kilkenny.

For Francis Nesbitt and his partner, Niamh, moving from Dublin to the Castlecomer area five years ago meant a complete change of lifestyle.

Many talk about it, few have the courage to actually do it. For Francis and Niamh, giving up a hectic city lifestyle to run a self-sufficient organic smallholding was something they had dreamed about for a long time.

Like Fernley Whittingstall, Francis and Niamh live an idyllic back-to-nature life, rearing their own bacon, gathering eggs and feasting on organically-grown vegetables and fruit.

The fruit trees provide cider and jam. Pigs May and Marge are special pets and great communicators. Their colleague Hamlet, however, is now in the freezer.

A software engineer and a broadcaster who still commute to the city, Niamh and Francis are up early to feed the animals and collect eggs for breakfast before setting off for work. They rarely watch television, preferring the fun of making nettle beer and cider or jam, or surveying the vegetable crop while it is still bright.

When they found Tinalinton, it needed a revamp and so did the grounds, which included a yard full of ancient silage bales. But it had the potential they were looking for.

They gutted the interior completely, rewired, plastered and plumbed, finishing with a simple white and cream colour scheme which will suit most tastes.

An orchard of apple, pear, plum and cherry trees, all species indigenous to the Kilkenny area, were planted alongside two existing old apple trees. Lawns were laid back and front and an organic vegetable garden established by the soft fruit bushes. A fledgling oak plantation will be magnificent when mature.

The farmhouse population of ducks, hens and pigs and Bella the collie cross will accompany Francis and Niamh when they move.

They've bought a small holiday village in Co Kilkenny, a new venture which they hope will provide a year-round income.

"We have a real sense of sadness about leaving," says Francis. "Our attempts at living the 'good life' would not have been so successful without the patience and guidance of our friendly neighbours, who loved to visit us to remind themselves of how things used to be. I don't know what they'll do for laughs now their amateur smallholders are leaving."

Old Irish farmhouses are fast disappearing, with more notice being taken of grander country homes, so it is heartening to fine one so perfectly in keeping. Windows are set deep into walls three feet thick, with hazel rods used as curtain poles.

The original Stanley range is in good working order, while beech kitchen units are new. Wide-plank flooring has been laid in the sittingroom and bedrooms. The perfectly serviceable old-fashioned Shires bathroom ware has been retained.

Outside, stone sheds have been restored and pressed into service as housing for young animals. A henhouse and shelter for the goose were built.

New owners will move into a ready-made organic smallholding, everything done and with the bonus of helpful neighbours. All that is missing are the chickens and ducks. Anyone for the good life?