Mixed offering includes farm and nature reserve land

A week of contrasting launches sees a ring-fenced arable and livestock farm and a private nature reserve with lakes and wetland coming to the market.

With 365 acres of land and two agricultural buildings, Chilfrome Farm at Maiden Newton, Dorchester, has agricultural, conservation, environmental and amenity appeal, says George Whittaker, of selling agent Symonds & Sampson.

“Chilfrome Farm would make a useful addition to an existing agricultural enterprise, but equally has the scale to be a standalone unit,” he says.

The farm has been in the current ownership since 2001, and in the intervening years it has been grazed and grown arable crops. Two areas of woodland have also been planted during that time.

See also: Farms launched in Devon, Somerset and Cumbria

The land is a mix of Grades 3, 4 and 5, with areas of clay over chalk soils and deep loam to clay, which are generally free-draining.

Set in the Dorset National Landscape and with part of the holding recognised on Natural England’s Priority Habitat Inventory, it is also registered as a site of nature conservation interest under Dorset Council.

A Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship agreement generating an annual payment of about £49,500 runs until 31 December 2033 although some of the options within that come to an end on 31 December 2028.

One of the farm buildings houses livestock and has handling facilities, while the second is used for farm storage.

Symonds & Sampson is guiding the sale of Chilfrome Farm at £3.195m.

Environmental and diversification potential  

At Bishop Auckland in County Durham, a 66-acre block of land with lakes, species-rich grassland, wetland and woodland is new to the market with a guide price of £700,000.

Although it does not have a Natural England Natural Nature Reserve designation, the land is known locally as the Escomb Nature Reserve.

Katherine Wigham of marketing agent GSC Grays says stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) schemes have helped support the development of species-rich grassland, native vegetation and wildlife habitats, which have contributed to wider biodiversity and soil improvement.

Escomb Nature Reserve © GSC Grays

“Alongside its environmental value, the reserve also offers potential for appropriate future diversification, including leisure and eco-tourism opportunities, subject to the necessary consents,” she says.

The SFI agreements, which end in 2027, include the IGL1 (rewilding) and SAM3 (herbal leys) options.

The largest lake covers 10 acres and another one three acres. They sit alongside smaller wetland margins and riverside habitats on the River Wear corridor.

About 30 acres of grassland is currently not actively managed, with the aim of encouraging natural regeneration and biodiversity enhancement.

Twenty-two acres of established herbal leys support species diversity and soil improvement, and there is woodland of about 0.2 acres.

Planning permission was granted in November 1993 for the extraction of sand, gravel, coal and fireclay and the subsequent restoration of part of the property to a landscaped lake.

This area is also subject to a section 106 agreement and an associated approved management plan, which require the parcel to be managed and maintained as a wildlife habitat in line with an approved scheme.

The sale, which is offered as a whole or in up to five lots, is subject to an overage, which would entitle the sellers to a 35% share of any uplift in value that results from planning approval for development in the 35 years following the sale.

West Sussex grassland 

Another smaller 49-acre block of land has come to the market in West Sussex, available as a whole or in five lots.

The land, divided into five paddocks and described by selling agent Chris Bliss of Batcheller Monkhouse as attractive and rarely available, sits in the South Downs National Park at Ockley Lane, Hassocks.

Ockley © Batcheller Monkhouse

There is an overage attached to this sale too, which requires the buyer to pay the seller 30% of the uplift in value associated with residential or commercial planning if consent is granted within 25 years of sale.

Batcheller Monkhouse is guiding the sale at £1.17m.