Clutch of south-west farms and Cumbria holding hit market

The south-west of England offers the pick of this week’s new launches, including a livestock farm with a sizeable range of accommodation.

Meare Court Farm, near Taunton, is a highly adaptable rural holding, says Robin Fern, of selling agent Savills, with its 88 acres of land, modern and traditional farm buildings, holiday cottages and apartments, and a Grade II-listed farmhouse.

The land is grassland and arable, farmed in-hand with infrastructure including livestock housing, general-purpose storage buildings and workshops.

See also: Rare launches in several counties

There is also a facility for processing cider from the apples produced by the farm’s half acre of fruit trees.

The cider business itself isn’t included in the sale, but Robin says it demonstrates the potential which the property holds for similar uses or small business ventures.

One of those enterprises is a holiday let business with accommodation in three cottages – two with three bedrooms and one with two bedrooms.

There are another two, two-bedroom cottages, and two self-contained flats, each with one bedroom, and also three mobile homes, all either operated as longer-term lets or used by family.

The four-bedroom farmhouse has its origins in the 17th century.

Meare Court Farm is for sale at a guide price of £4m.

Dartmoor National Park holding

Blackdown Piper Farm © Savills

Savills is also launching Blackdown Piper Farm at Widecombe-in-the-Moor in the Dartmoor National Park, a holding with 202 acres of ring-fenced land bordering the River Dart and with a private Tor.

Much of the land is enclosed fields of improved grassland and there are also 70 acres of upland grazing.

The farm benefits from grazing rights for 31 livestock units over 1,050 acres of Dartmoor commons.

The farm buildings offer storage options for fodder and machinery and have potential for conversion.

While there is no farmhouse, planning permission has been granted for two dwellings – a four-to-five-bedroom house and a three-bedroom property, both of these subject to agricultural occupancy conditions.

The foundations, drainage and associated infrastructure is already in place for these.

Savills is guiding Blackdown Piper Farm at £3.2m.

Devon with potential

Welland Down Farm © Symonds & Sampson

In Devon, Symonds & Sampson is launching 86-acre Welland Down Farm, near Crediton.

Agent Sarah Vere says it comes with potential for agricultural, equestrian, environmental, or rural enterprise use.

The land is a mixture of productive arable ground, pasture and amenity woodland.

The five-bedroom farmhouse has a two-bedroom annexe while traditional stone barns have full planning permission to convert into three dwellings.

Further barns have potential for conversion too.

Welland Down Farm is on the market at a guide price of £1.795m for the whole and is also available in up to six lots.

A launch in the north of England also comes with potential.

Cumbria retirement sale

Hopes House Farm © youngsRPS

The owner of Hopes House, at Penton near Carlisle, is retiring from farming and from running the established farmhouse bed and breakfast business.

The 86-acre holding offers buyers the opportunity to generate an income from farming and diversification.

The land is mostly Grade 4 permanent pasture and there is a small area of woodland, on which an income of £10,691 a year is earned from a woodland pasture agreement until 2030.

Harry Morshead, of selling agent youngsRPS, says this lays the groundwork for future opportunities in emerging natural capital markets such as biodiversity net gain, nutrient neutrality, and carbon trading.

“With these foundations already in place, the land offers a rare opportunity to combine agricultural productivity with forward‑looking environmental value,” says Harry.

There are modern farm sheds and a traditional building attached to the four-bedroom farmhouse.

The adjacent barn has potential to generate income as a holiday let, or could be converted into another dwelling.

Hopes House Farm is on the market at £945,000 for the whole and is also available as two lots.