Late autumn farm sale launches keep coming

The late autumn market offers options in the North of England and Scotland, ranging from a ring-fenced productive arable farm to land with development and natural capital opportunities.

In Derbyshire, with 104 acres, Rock Farm near Chesterfield (pictured above) has been launched at a guide price of £1.55m.

Historically, its farmland was open cast mined and has subsequently been restored.

Although it was left fallow in recent years, it has now been cultivated to allow an incoming farmer to plant a spring crop or establish a grass ley.

In the years when it was cropped, the Grade 4 land supported a good variety of combinable crops.

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A barn on the holding was taken down after suffering storm damage earlier this year, but the footings remain, as does an area of hardstanding suitable for machinery storage.

Subject to achieving planning permission, selling agent Savills says the barn could be rebuilt and extended to create further storage.

The farm has been of interest to numerous renewable energy operators with a view to potential leases and, although the owners have not engaged with any of these developers, the opportunities remain, says the agent.

The three-bedroom farmhouse offers scope for expansion. An overage clause, which excludes the house and yard area, would require 25% of any uplift in value from development apart from agriculture, forestry and equine, within a 25 year period to be paid to the vendor.

Mill of Pert © Galbraith

Angus arable farm

For buyers in the market for arable land, a block is being offered for sale in one of the UK’s principal cereal growing regions.

Mill Of Pert near Laurencekirk, Angus, is 54 acres of mostly Grade 2 land capable of producing a wide range of crops including cereals, potatoes, vegetable and fruit.

It comes with eight residential properties which were damaged by floods in 2022 and 2023, but the interiors have been stripped back to allow renovation.

The main property, the farmhouse, has full planning consent to be altered and extended and this is also the case for one of the cottages.

Unusually, there is a young truffle tree plantation, while a borehole provides a source of water to supply the properties and for crop irrigation.

Cropping across the four fields in 2024 was potatoes, spring barley and oilseed rape, with small areas of truffle tree plantations totalling almost four acres within two of the fields.

Selling agent Galbraith is seeking offers of more than £525,000 for Mill Of Pert.

Cross House Farm © Galbraith

Northumberland grassland farm

Across the border in Northumberland, Galbraith is also marketing Coldtown Fell, also known as Cross House Farm, 324 acres of permanent pasture and rough grazing near West Woodburn, Hexham.

The land may be suitable for a variety of uses including regenerative agriculture, rewilding projects, sporting and natural capital benefit, subject to the relevant consents being obtained.

The holding is in Entry Level and Higher Level Countryside Stewardship schemes.

Soils are a mixture of slightly and very acidic, with some loam and clay and others peaty.

Part of the land sits in the Northumberland National Park and is classified as common land within the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

The sale is subject to a 25-year overage clause that requires 50% of any uplift in value from any non-agricultural development on a specific area of the land to be passed to the vendor.

The property has been launched at a guide price of £550,000 for the whole and is also available in two lots.