Farms and bare land launch from Northumberland to Devon

A range of bare blocks of land and smaller holdings are the bulk of new launches this week.

But one farm is larger in scale and offers a blank canvas for environmental, agricultural or natural capital schemes.

Birdhope Farm at Redesdale in the Northumberland National Park has 364 acres of permanent pasture, upland grazing, designated ancient and semi-natural woodland, and rich habitats, including several rare lichens.

The traditional farmhouse has been refurbished and there are also restored farm buildings that offer possibilities for further accommodation, subject to consent.

See also: Pasture farms lead the sales offering ahead of Easter

Alastair Lumsden of marketing agent Galbraith says the sale offers an “outstanding opportunity” for a potential buyer.

“The farm has not been intensively farmed by the current vendor and is not subject to any agricultural schemes,” he says.

This presents a blank canvas for a future owner to pursue various environmental, agricultural or natural capital schemes, including scope for further tree planting.

There is blanket bog and a Romano-British settlement designated as a scheduled ancient monument.

The sale includes single-bank fishing rights along 1,500m of the River Rede, a watercourse stocked with brown trout and which forms Birdhope Farm’s northern boundary.

As a key tributary of the North Tyne, the river also attracts sea trout and salmon later in the season.

Access to the farm is across a private Bailey bridge over the River Rede.

Galbraith is marketing Birdhope Farm at offers over £975,000, having sold it to the current owner just two years ago.

Listed farmhouse on Cumbria holding  

Townhead Farm in Cumbria © Savills

At just 29 acres, Townhead Farm in Cumbria is the smallest of this week’s farm launches but comes with a house and buildings.

The former dairy holding at Unthank, Dalston, near Carlisle, is suitable for arable and grass.

A public road divides the holding into two blocks – the core land, farmhouse and farmstead sit on one side, a smaller block of grassland on the other.

Modern buildings including loose housing, sheds with cubicle stalls and a silage clamp are arranged around a concrete yard.

The Grade II listed four-bedroom farmhouse dates back to the early 1700s.

It adjoins a range of traditional farm buildings, which marketing agent Savills says gives the opportunity to extend the living accommodation in the current footprint of the farm buildings, subject to consents.

There is a development condition in place restricting the number of residential units in the farmyard to the existing dwelling and the conversion of the traditional buildings to a maximum of four units.

An overage covering use of the farm for any purpose other than agriculture, equestrian, open field horticulture or woodland requires 30% of any uplift in value from development within 50 years to be paid to the vendor.

Savills is marketing Townhead Farm at £800,000 for the whole and also offering it in two lots.

Bedfordshire bare land

Bare arable land off Riseley Road in Bedfordshire © Robinson and Hall

Consolidation sees two blocks of Grade 2 and 3 arable land coming to the market in Bedfordshire, through Robinson and Hall.

Sixty-one acres of arable land off Riseley Road is being marketed at a guide price of £575,000, while 17 acres at Keysoe is launched at £162,500.

Land at Keysoe, Bedfordshire © Robinson and Hall

Devon pasture and arable

In Devon, Stags is also launching two bare blocks.

The larger of the two, 86 acres at Eastacott Cross near Umberleigh, is Grade 3 grassland sitting at 130-140m above sea level.

Land at Eastacott Cross near Umberleigh in Devon © Stags

This block has freely draining, slightly acid loamy soils and is divided into five level or gently sloping fields.

It is currently let on a grazing licence until 30 June 2026 and thereafter on a rolling monthly agreement. This land has a stone barn with an earth floor and corrugated iron roof sheets.

Stags has set a guide price of £695,000.

The second block is at Firsdon, Roborough, near Winkleigh.

Bare land at Firsdon, Roborough, Devon © Stags

Itis 59 acres that has historically grown cereals and forage crops, including wheat, oats and maize.

This is also Grade 3 land with freely draining slightly acid loamy soils.

Stags is guiding it at £585,000 for the whole, but the land is also available in three lots.

Sussex relaunch

Farmhouse at King’s Barn Farm © Batcheller Monkhouse

King’s Barn Farm, near Steyning, which went on the market in July last year, is relaunched with a lower guide price.

The 249-acre organic grassland holding in West Sussex was originally guided at £4m-£4.5m and is now on the market at £3.4m-£3.6m through Batcheller Monkhouse.

It has a five-bedroom farmhouse, a one-bedroom cottage, buildings, two miles of river frontage, and battery storage income.