Large mixed commercial farm in East Sussex

The chance to buy a ring fenced commercial mixed farm of almost 265ha (655 acres) in East Sussex is rare, so Court Lodge Farm, at Ewhurst Green should attract great interest.

The farm is for sale in seven lots with an overall guide price of £4.75m. It overlooks the Rother Valley to the south and is 63 miles from London.

“Although this is very much a commercial farm it has a bit more character than most other commercial units and amenity value for the lifestyle investment buyer,” said Charlie Paton of joint agent Savills. “There are also opportunities subject to planning which could make it more of a mixed residential unit.”

Court Lodge comes to the market through the restructuring of a trust and its current owners have been at the farm since 1963. Both the four-bedroom farmhouse and the three-bedroom cottage are subject to agricultural occupancy conditions.

Almost 400 acres of the grade 3 land is in arable, the remaining land being split between 150 acres of pasture, 55 acres of woodland and 43 acres of apple orchard.

The soils at Court Lodge are a mix of fine and slightly coarser loamy clay, with the arable land in a three-year mainly cereal rotation with occasional break crops. The pasture land carries about 150 ewes.

Grain storage is split between about 800t in eight on-floor bins with a further 400t of on-floor grain storage. There are modern stock and general purpose buildings and part of the land has planning permission for four caravan pitches.

The orchard is let on an annual basis and the shoot has also been let annually. The farm’s 239.47 single farm payment entitlements will be transferred with the land, on which an Entry Level Stewardship Scheme expired in 2011.

(Savills 0207 409 5916; Standen Hodgson 01580 713 250)