Herefordshire estate offers good cropping potential

A farming and sporting estate in Herefordshire has been launched for offers of more than £9.85m.

The Letton Court Estate, which is available as a whole or in eight lots, is nine miles from Hay-on-Wye and 12 miles from Hereford.

The estate extends to 855 acres (346ha) and contains a number of buildings, including Letton Court, a 12-bedroom house.

Letton is one of Hereford’s ancient villages with a church dating back to Norman times. The estate includes much of the village and surrounding land. The River Wye forms the south-western boundary to the estate and a brook tributary, known as Letton Lake, runs through the estate.

The original house, which was named in the Domesday Book, was rebuilt in the mid-18th century and later replaced by a medieval-style mansion which, in 1927, burnt to the ground. The existing house, which was rebuilt on the original site in the Georgian style, is red brick, with double oak front doors. It is accessed via a road bridge over an old moat.

Approximately 768 acres of the 855 are arable and pasture. Most fields have easy access from council roads through large gateways, according to agent Savills.

The land is farmed in hand. The basic rotation for the arable land includes wheat, barley, oilseed rape and potatoes, with much of the land suitable for potatoes.

Yields averaged more than 5t/acre for wheat and 3.8t/acre for barley in 2011.

Some of the grassland is subject to grass keep agreements. The remainder, which is farmed in hand, is grazed and has silage taken for the suckler herd. Sheep are kept on short-term arrangements over winter to improve the grassland and provide income.

Much of the land has been drained while two abstraction licences allow abstraction between 1 May and 30 September from the River Wye and Letton Lake.

A large number of farm buildings includes grain storage and general purpose buildings.

There is established fishing, as the River Wye is renowned for salmon, and a shoot on the estate, with shooting rights let until 2014.

Entitlements are included in the sale.

(Savills 01242 548 020)