Two arable estates totalling 8,000 acres on offer
Two prime arable farm estates in England, covering 8,350 acres, have come onto the market with a combined price tag of £87.5m.
The Coldham Estate in Cambridgeshire and The Goole Estate in South Yorkshire, both once owned by Co-op Farms but now in the ownership of the Wellcome Trust, are being sold after what has been described as a “strategic review’’ of the charitable trust’s land holdings.
Philip Leech, a director of Urban&Civic, part of the Wellcome Trust, said the estates fell outside the parameters of its current property portfolio and core strategy for land ownership.
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Proceeds from the sale would be used to fund future strategic land acquisitions and property management, he said.
Both estates, which are very similar in scale, are highly productive and have income streams from renewable energy, too.
The Coldham Estate
© Savills
The Coldham Estate, near Wisbech, in the Cambridgeshire Fens, covering 4,179 acres (1,691ha) and for sale as a whole or in three lots, has a guide price of £43.5m.
The majority of the land is classified as Grade 1, with some at Grade 2.
Agents Savills and Bidwells, who are handling the sale of both estates, said the rich, alluvial soils are suitable for growing cereals, oilseed crops, potatoes, field vegetables, onions and sugar beet.
Most of the estate is farmed in-hand, and there is a small investment farm of about 80 acres.
There has been significant investment in infrastructure in recent years – facilities include 8,300t of grain storage and 4,060t of ambient potato storage, and there are two reservoirs with a total storage capacity of 230,000cu m.
There are also two wind farms with 14 turbines in total and work is due to begin soon on a 43-acre solar farm, with terms agreed with Scottish Power Renewables.
The estate has a significant residential portfolio including nine-bedroom Coldham Hall, a farmhouse and 13 cottages.
The Goole Estate
© Savills
At 4,206 acres (1,701ha), the Goole Estate is slightly bigger; it is also for sale as a whole or in lots and has a total guide price of £44m.
The land is a mixture of productive Grade 1 and 2, and the agents describe it as well suited to producing high-yielding crops of wheat, barley, oilseed rape, potatoes, vining peas and sugar beet.
There is storage for 10,400t of combinable crops, a 3,500t ambient-controlled facility for potato storage, and two reservoirs with a combined capacity of 115,000cu m.
Two wind turbine schemes – the Twin Rivers Wind Farm and Goole Fields II Wind Farm – have a total of 16 turbines.
The estate includes two farmhouses and three other houses.