Four Cambridgeshire farm tenancies up for grabs

Four county council farm tenancies are are available from October, ranging from 7 acres to nearly 300 acres.

The tenancies will be with Cambridgeshire County Council, which is the largest county council farm estate in England and Wales, covering 33,000 acres and 216 tenants.

The four tenancies

• Ransonmoor II Farm, near March: A single block of fertile root-growing land totalling 287 acres, including a range of agricultural buildings and a modern three-bedroom bungalow.
• Plantation Farm, near Ramsey: A 197-acre holding with fertile fen soils, a number of farm buildings and a three-bedroom bungalow.
• Longfield Farm, on the edge of Cambridge: Extends to 141 acres of combinable land with the option of a three-bedroom farmhouse.
• Stonebridge Farm, near March: A 7-acre holding, which the council said offered “an opportunity to create a range of rural enterprises”.

Selection criteria

• Sufficient experience in the type of farming or enterprise for which you are applying, including training.
• Five years’ full-time practical farm work experience, which may include up to three years’ attendance of a full-time course in agriculture.
• Evidence of sufficient financial support to enable the proposed business to be established must be provided.
• The preferred age group is 23-40, but applicants outside this range will not be immediately rejected. In particular, younger applicants may be suitable for part-time units, while applicants over this range may have the knowledge and experience to establish specialist agricultural, horticultural or non-agricultural enterprises.
• You must not already be an established farmer in your own right.
• You have to be keen, enterprising, adaptable and hardworking.
• The rent payment record of existing tenants will be taken into account

Message from a tenant

Robbie Dean, a tenant farmer of the council, said: “Gaining the tenancy of a county farms holding has allowed me to fulfill a long-held ambition to start farming in my own right.

“So far it has been very hard work, but I have enjoyed the challenge and I would urge anyone who wants to start farming, or to take their farming business to the next level, to apply.”

How to find out more

The council is holding an open viewing day on 12 February, with business plans from applicants due by 4 March.

For further information please contact Mark Miller on 01223 699 283 or Edward Tabner, principal surveyor at Cambridgeshire County Council, on 01223 729 165. You can also visit the Cambridgeshire County Council website