Rooms with a view
By Andrew Shirley
KNIGHT FRANK is launching over 3000 acres of land in the midlands this month and the firm”s Claire Duthie is spearheading the campaign with an historic Herefordshire potato unit.
Grade1 listed Amberley Court at Sutton St Nicholas, near Hereford, is probably the oldest complete house in the county, says owner Colin Powell, who said it dated from about 1320.
Mr Powell”s family has been in occupation for the past 40 years ever since his grandfather, who had lost much of his land to local housing, tossed a coin to decide where each of his twin sons would be farming – either Herefordshire or Wales.
Since then, the farm has won numerous prizes and Mr Powell has been a top 10 grower for chip firm McCain, which he has been supplying for 25 years. Unsurprisingly, the 253-acre unit features excellent potato growing and storage facilities.
Most of the soil is Grade 2 with some Grade 1 and irrigation is provided from three lakes. There is also temperature-controlled storage for 5000t of potatoes.
The decision to sell had been made for a number of reasons, including his family leaving home, said Mr Powell. But despite becoming increasingly fed up with DEFRA interference in running his business, he was still planning to farm other land and continue supplying McCain.
He would also be happy to farm the land at Amberley if the new owner did not want to manage it themselves, he said.
As well as the a six-bedroom house there is also an agriculturally tied bungalow, a let office building and a Norman church. But Miss Duthie has decided to sell the farm as a whole with a 3m guide price. “One of its greatest attributes is its ringfence; splitting it up would reduce that appeal.”
Single farm payment entitlements are not included in the guide price, but could be available by separate negotiation, she added.
Lifestyle buyers would be interested because of the house and scenic location, said Miss Duthie, but farmers could also be tempted because of the proximity of the buildings to the house and the excellent land, she reckoned.
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