Pasture farms lead the sales offering ahead of Easter

Livestock farms and holdings with alternative income potential are the main new contributors to the Easter land market as launches gather momentum.

In Cumbria, a ring-fenced stock-rearing farm near Roadhead offers multiple potential options for a buyer, says Jonathan Hird of selling agent H&H Land & Estates.

Holmehead has 333 acres of permanent pasture, traditional and modern agricultural buildings, and a four-bedroom farmhouse.

See also: Better weather coaxes farms and land to market

“The farm itself, including the land, buildings and farmhouse, is all presented in excellent condition.

“It provides a fantastic opportunity for a purchaser looking to establish their own farming enterprise, expand an existing operation, or secure a quality rural investment,” says Jonathan.

“Farms of this calibre and size in this part of Cumbria are increasingly difficult to secure and we expect it to attract strong interest.”

The land is a mix of good-quality grazing and mowing land, upland and rough grazing.

Buildings on the holding include stone barns, cubicle housing and a cattle shed with loose housing.

A slurry tower has capacity to store about 545cu m.

Adjacent to the stone farmhouse is a horseshoe-shaped courtyard with traditional stone buildings including stabling for four horses.

Holmehead is being marketed by H&H Land & Estates as a whole at a guide price of £1.79m and is also offered for sale in two lots.

Lake District pasture holding

Fellside Farm © Strutt & Parker

Also in Cumbria, Strutt & Parker is bringing a grassland farm set on the edge of the Lake District National Park to the market.

Fellside Farm at Mosser near Cockermouth comes with 160 acres of productive pastureland, nine acres of woodland and rough grazing, and access to 43 acres of allotment land annually at an affordable/low rent.

The Grade 4 and 5 land, which is hilly and has fine loam over clay soils, is entered into an Entry-Level plus Higher Level Countryside Stewardship scheme until September 2028.

Buildings include livestock housing, sheep- handling pens and a machinery storage shed.

For buyers seeking diversification income, planning permission was granted in June 2021 to convert the farm’s traditional buildings into holiday accommodation.

Strutt & Parker is marketing Fellside Farm at a guide price of £1.5m.

West Sussex farm with equestrian

Peppers Farm © Batcheller Monkhouse

For those with a bigger budget, Peppers Farm, a 98-acre, fully equipped farm at Ashurst, West Sussex, comes with multiple features including equestrian facilities and several properties.

It is being marketed by Batcheller Monkhouse with a guide price of £6m.

Again, the land is mostly pasture and there is also some deciduous woodland.

Alternative income is generated by a broad range of equestrian facilities, which include a barn with 12 internal boxes, a brick-built six-box stable, a timber-clad pole barn, an indoor riding school and a lunging ring.

As well as a six-bedroom farmhouse there are four further properties, including a three-bedroom cottage and a lakeside retreat – with tenants living in two of the properties.

The farm has an outdoor swimming pool and an all-weather tennis court.

Herefordshire smallholding

Green Lane Farm © Sunderlands

At just 25 acres, Green Lane Farm at Kington, Herefordshire, is a smallholding, but its agricultural buildings have potential for alternative uses.

Marketing agent Sunderlands says the property presents a “versatile and appealing rural opportunity” while being ideally suited to a small livestock enterprise.

The land is productive pasture divided into four fields that have good access from a council-maintained road.

And there is also a small established woodland and a natural pond.

The farm’s modern and traditional buildings are currently used for livestock housing and general storage.

Green Lane Farm is being sold with a 25-year overage clause, which requires 35% of any uplift in value on the development of some of these buildings for non-agricultural or equestrian use to be passed to the vendor.

A three-bedroom stone-and-render farmhouse is the residential element of the sale and Sunderlands is offering Green Lane Farm at a guide price of £825,000.