County council farm and land to let – Cornwall and Somerset
Three county council holdings are to let in the south-west of England.
Cornwall Council has a fully equipped dairy farm on a 20-year farm business tenancy (FBT), while in Somerset, the local authority has two holdings available.
Trenerry Farm, at St Allen, Truro, sits in a nitrate vulnerable zone and has 167 acres of Grade 3 pasture land, along with 43 acres of woodland designated as a County Wildlife Site.
The council has invested heavily in the slurry storage facilities and is therefore making it a stipulation of the tenancy that the incoming tenant must continue operating it mostly for milk production.
See also: End of tenancy advice – what to watch out for
Trenerry Farm © Carter Jonas
The slurry acts as feedstock for an on-farm biogas processing plant, installed in 2023 and let to biofuels company Bennamann, which is working with New Holland to develop methane collection and processing.
The lagoon provides 2,773cu m of storage.
Trenerry Farm has a range of traditional and modern buildings, a silage clamp and concrete yards – some are located at the farmstead and others on an outlying site a short distance away.
Residential accommodation is a six-bedroom farmhouse.
The FBT is for up to 20 years or until the tenant reaches state retirement age, whichever comes soonest.
Trenerry Farm is being let by informal tender with agent Carter Jonas. The closing date for applications is midday on Friday 7 February 2025, with the final viewing date scheduled for Tuesday 14 January.
Somerset land blocks
In Somerset, Carter Jonas is also acting for the county council in letting 127 acres of pasture land at Lympsham, near Weston-super-Mare, and 85 acres at Horton, Ilminster.
The council is open to applications from new or recent entrants to agriculture for these holdings.
The land at Lympsham is across two sites, at Leaze and Selwood Farms, and is being offered on a two-year FBT either as a whole or in two lots.
Land at Leaze Farm © Carter Jonas
The largest of the two lots covers 103 acres and is mostly across eight pasture fields. The other 24 acres is also pasture, set across two fields.
Tenders must be submitted by midday on Wednesday 26 February 2025, with the tenancy starting on 25 March 2025.
The second tenancy opportunity in Somerset is at Shave Farm, which comes with 85 acres of arable and pastureland, again available as a whole or in two lots on a two-year FBT.
One lot is 54 acres which has been mainly in arable production, with a small area of pasture, while the other is 31 acres of predominantly arable land with two smaller fields of pasture.
An underpass has been built below the A303 to link the two pieces of land.
Applicants have until midday on Wednesday 26 February 2025 to submit tenders for the FBT, which starts on 1 April 2025.
Land at Shave Farm © Carter Jonas