Farmland launches set to warm up spring market

The spring market is moving up a gear or two, with the planned launch of some substantial and good quality farms.

East, Willow and Tile Farms at Nordelph and Downham West, Norfolk, offer Grade 1 arable land in well-positioned blocks which sit very close together.

With just over 654 acres and useful buildings, the sale is lotted five ways with an overall guide price of £7.645m. It also includes up to 1,300t of grain storage.

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The land is down mainly to combinable crops including oilseed rape, winter milling wheat and malting barley, along with sugar beet.

There are no residential properties or other enterprises, but a 760sq m building in one of the lots has potential alternative uses, subject to planning, said Alice Lake of selling agent Cruso & Wilkin.

“The land is farmed by a local farmer on a contract farming arrangement and has been managed to a very high standard,” said Mrs Lake.

The farms are in a nitrate vulnerable zone and not subject to any environmental schemes. Mineral and sporting rights are included in the sale, which is prompted by retirement from farming.

Residential contrast

Providing a complete contrast, Welham Lodge Farm, near Market Harborough, Leicestershire, comes with residential property.

This offers 400 acres of recently certified organic grassland in the Welland Valley, on Grade 3 soils. The guide price is yet to be confirmed but is expected to be in the region of £8.5m-£9m.

A Grade II listed six-bedroom farmhouse sits in the centre of the land, with a range of traditional buildings. The house and buildings have been extensively refurbished by the present owners.

“There has been substantial investment in the farm,” said Ben Ainscough of King West. “All the refurbishment and new building has been done to top standard.

“A separate yard has been built away from the house and original yard, with 2.5 acres of concrete and two 30m-diameter livestock roundhouses. There is also a 0.7-mile long, all-weather gallop.”

The farm is in a Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship until the end of December 2023. 

Retirement sale

Another retirement sale brings Horridge Farm at Ashreigney, near Chulmleigh, Devon, to the market in the next few days.

This is a commercial deer farm which, at its peak, was running about 125 hinds plus followers, totalling about 350 head of red deer.

The farm is for sale as a whole or in two lots with an overall guide price of £1.85m through Greenslade Taylor Hunt.

There is a substantial farmhouse, converted from a stone barn, which includes a self-contained holiday annexe. A further detached barn has planning consent for conversion to a four-bedroom house.

The buildings include covered deer handling facilities and there is about 113 acres of land, most of which is deer fenced.

The land is split between level and gently undulating pasture, with some more moderately sloping grazing ground and pockets of mixed deciduous woodland.

Shropshire mixed farm

McCartneys – jointly with Morris, Marshall & Poole – is due to launch Brook House Farm at Binweston, Shropshire.

This productive arable and grassland farm has almost 195 acres, with a Grade II listed detached four-bedroom farmhouse in need of complete renovation.

Its modern and traditional buildings have potential for conversion, and the land offers natural capital, conservation and biodiversity enhancement opportunities.

The farm is for sale as a whole or in four lots, with an overall guide price of £1.8m. Informal tenders close at 12pm on 14 April.