A traditional Wexford family farm in a picturesque country setting near JFK Arboretum, JFK Ancestral Home, Dunbrody Abbey, Tintern Abbey and The National Heritage Park in South East Ireland, Warren Farm gets its name from Patricia’s family, the Warrens, who have farmed at Warren Farm for many generations. The current farmhouse was built in the early 1800’s, with adjacent stone outbuildings for use as stables, corn storage and coach house.

Warrens have owned the farm since about 1860, although family ownership goes back further on the female line, with the name changing through marriage, as has happened again when Patricia’s surname changed from Warren to Knight.

In the past, the farm enterprises have been mixed and varied, according to the needs of the family and the wider community at any given time. Crops of barley, wheat, sugar beet and tobacco were grown, and there was grazing for beef cattle, cows and sheep.  At the moment the farm enterprise is mainly tillage, with some grazing for cattle and sheep.

In the early 1900s Patricia’s grandfather, Samuel G. Warren, bought Piltown Bacon Company for the processing and distribution of the large quantities of bacon being produced on the farm and other local farms.  SGW developed a Sausage factory in a portion of the building now known as Doyle’s Cottage, employing up to 22 workers, while the living room of Dairy Cottage was formerly used as a refectory for all the workers on the farm and in the farmyard.  Ever the entrepreneur, Samuel G set up many other business activities in the farmyard, while his sons and farm workers continued the business of farming.  Horses were shod by the blacksmith in the Forge which was also a hub for other enterprises including coach-building, trailer-making and the manufacture of various farm implements such as gates, ladders, sack trucks, wheel-barrows and so on.  The farm buildings near the Forge were called the Workshop, the Paint Shop, the Sawmill, with others called the Weighing House, Slaughterhouse, the Sausage House as well as the more usual names like the Dairy and Washhouse.  Work was always available at Warren’s Farm, and it was  well known locally that if you arrived here seeking a job, you’d be given a paintbrush, a saw, or a shovel, as appropriate or given work in the washhouse, dairy or dwelling house, and accommodation too, if needed.

Times change, as has the usage of the old dwelling and farm buildings over the years, providing accommodation for some employees and others, as needed, and this continued with ongoing improvements to keep up with the times. Dairy Cottage, possibly the oldest building on the farm and possibly the original farmhouse, has had a variety of  lives and names over the years, including use as a dairy, a refectory, a corn mill and lodgings for workers.  Doyle’s Cottage was named after Martin Doyle, the last blacksmith on the farm to live there, also called the Sausage House from earlier usage for sausage-making.  Horseshoe Cottage was used as stables and farm lodgings.  Coach House once housed the horse coaches and traps, served as a piggery and to house workers.  Built in 1899, Granary Cottage was used for bacon curing, and potato and corn storage while also providing accommodation for employees and others.

Patricia & Roger created the cottage gardens from scratch in 1996 in what was the original farmyard, winning 2nd prize for New Gardens in the Shamrock Irish National Gardens Competition and over the years the gardens have blossomed and matured, becoming a haven for butterflies, birds and bees.