Powys farms offer diverse enterprise mix and potential

A brace of adjoining farms in Powys is about to be put on the market, offering a mix of enterprises and a decent scale to work with.

Among several holdings with poultry units due to be launched in the next weeks and months, Stud Farm and Nantycordy Farm near Knighton, Powys, have a total of 1,013 acres and are being sold as a whole or in four lots by Barbers Rural.

See also: Private farmland sales – what buyers should consider

Described by the selling agent as multi-use farms with arable ground, grass and woodland, the main enterprises are sheep, beef and poultry.

There are also two solar installations (15kW combined) and income from a telephone mast.

The farms have more than 80,000sq ft of modern buildings, including livestock housing, grain and fodder storage.

Separately there are six intensive poultry broiler houses heated by accredited biomass boilers.

The accommodation includes a five-bedroom main farmhouse, a three-bedroom farmhouse with an office/workshop and stabling, and a further four-bedroom house.

The farms are offered for sale due to restructuring following the death of David Parry.

As well as the diverse income potential of the holding, which sits in a secluded and impressive setting, there is great sporting potential, said Barbers Rural partner Annabel Fearnall.

An overall guide price of offers over £11.5m has been set, with individual lots guides shown in brackets below.  

The first lot, Stud Farm, is guided at offers over £4m and includes 134 acres of productive arable and grass land in a ring fence, classified Grades 3a and 3b, and an extensive four-bedroom farmhouse.

This is partly converted from former farm buildings and includes further accommodation that could be used as an annexe.

Stud Farm is offered with about 46,000sq ft of modern buildings, including machinery, fodder and grain storage, as well as loose housing for cattle and sheep.

It also has four broiler sheds, each with capacity for up to 38,000 birds, with gas and biomass boilers.

Poultry units © Barbers Rural

A second lot includes Nantycordy Farmhouse, 29,500sq ft of modern steel portal-framed buildings and almost 486 acres of mixed arable, pasture and woodland (offers over £4.4m).

The lower lying of this land is Grade 3a, with the hillier, undulating ground Grades 4 and 5 on the Welsh soil classification.

Almost 52 acres of this lot is let on a farm business tenancy for Christmas tree production. Nantycordy Farm has two poultry buildings, each for 40,000 birds.

A 393-acre block of land makes up the third lot, a mix of pasture at the roadside, arable and pasture on higher fields and rough pasture and woodland on sloping valley sides, for offers over £2.75m.

This is partly newly planted under the Glastir Woodland Creation Scheme. There is also a substantial portal-framed loose housing building and cattle-handling facility.

Lower Hivron, a four-bedroom house, is the final lot, at offers over £350,000.

The mineral rights on parts of Stud Farm and Nantycordy Farm are owned by a third party, but sporting rights are included in the sale.

Lowland Dumfriesshire  

Upper Mains Farm, Annan © Davidson & Robertson

This week sees the launch of a productive lowland farm about 11 miles south of Dumfries.

Upper Mains Farm, Annan, is in the Solway Firth area of outstanding natural beauty. It has almost 231 acres in a ring fence, with clean, good-sized fields, on which the drainage has been renewed.

The farm is well fenced, with the land in good condition and currently in grass, although the majority is ploughable and capable of growing high-yielding arable crops.

The land is classified as Grade 3.1 and 3.2, is generally level and sits around 53m (175ft) above sea level, with a slight southerly aspect.

There is mains water to the 13 pastures. Historically the farm has supported 500 breeding ewes, with 200 head of store cattle bought each year for indoor finishing.

There is a substantial traditional five-bedroom house, a good range of traditional and modern farm buildings, also timber and steel portal-framed cattle courts and pens.

Andrew Hamilton from selling agent Davidson & Robertson said: “Upper Mains is the type of farm that many would dream of – ring-fenced, good-quality land that has been maintained to a very high standard and that offers a range of farming opportunities.

“The new owners of Upper Mains will be able to walk straight in and focus on developing their farming business.”

Upper Mains is on the market for offers of more than £2.45m.