An historic 2500-acre country estate in Cambridgeshire is being marketed jointly by agents Strutt & Parker and Robinson & Hall, in what is likely to be the biggest block of commercial farmland to hit the market this year.

On the Bedfordshire/Cambridgeshire borders, the Tetworth Hall Estate is a mixture of let farms and in-hand land, combined with extensive woodland and shooting.

The 22 lots comprising the estate represent a significant opportunity to acquire productive arable soils in the country’s cereals heartland.

Arable land

In-hand arable land and woodland extends to just over 1800 acres with 674 acres let on three farming tenancies. The estate also features 3 farmhouses and 13 cottages, and an established pheasant shoot. The estate’s in-hand land has been contract-farmed to a high standard by local farmer William Ward.

The sale, by a family trust, follows the death of Lady Crossman, stalwart of the Cambridgeshire and Enfield Chase and the estate lies at the heart of Cambridgeshire hunt country.

Watch FW's exclusive look at Tetworth

Queen Anne Hall

The principal house is an elegant Grade 2* listed Queen Anne hall, set in around 100 acres of parkland. It is believed to have been built in 1710 and later remodelled for MP John Pedley.  It is one of a series of grand properties built in the 18th century along Bedfordshire’s Greensand Ridge – the grandest being nearby Woburn Abbey.

Set in a small park, the house overlooks all the estate’s land to the north. Although in need of significant modernisation, the house is serviced by extensive outbuildings, stables and a gardeners’ cottage.

The arable land is in two blocks, bisected by a public road. Soils are mostly Grade 2 and 3 Hanslope clays and has proved productive wheat-growing land in the past. The rotation has also included beans and oilseed rape. Farm buildings account for about 3000t of on-floor grain storage, but in general the buildings and fixed equipment require re-investment. There is a small income from some let buildings.

Let properties

The rest of the estate comprises let farms with substantial houses and an extensive range of cottages and other property.

Strutt & Parker’s Charlie Evans described Tetworth as a “genuine, traditional estate”. “Every lot could sell well in its own right.” There had already been significant interest, he added.

There are two established shoots; one let and one run in-hand to a high standard by keeper Rodney Nudds, whose father Angus wrote the famous The Woods Belong to Me. There are 13 drives providing 10 days a year.

The Tetworth Hall Estate is for sale by private treaty in 22 lots, with a guide price in excess of £20m for the whole. Mr Evans said he expected the land to achieve more than £5,500/ acre.

Images of Tetworth