Shropshire ‘jewel’ farm estate offers all round asset

A mixed-use farming estate is being launched at a guide price of £20m following the death of its owner.

The 810-acre Eaton Mascott Estate has exceptional appeal, says selling agent Chris Jones of Berrys, with a substantial in-hand farming enterprise, a residential portfolio generating an estimated annual rent roll of £223,214, and a four-storey period house – all set in a ring-fence.

“It’s a jewel of Shropshire, an estate that offers a combination of scale, diversified income and rich natural assets in a very private location,” he says.

See also: Lincolnshire farms offer choice of size and potential

The estate has a diverse and well-balanced mix of productive arable land, pasture and amenity woodland, complemented by both traditional and modern agricultural buildings, he adds.

Combinable and root crops are grown under a contract farming agreement on 447 acres of mostly Grade 3 arable land.

There is irrigation infrastructure for abstraction from a reservoir and also an underground irrigation main with hydrant connections.

Last year’s harvest generated £101,654 in income from the contract farming side of the business.

The 211 acres of grassland are mainly let on annual grazing licences and farm business tenancies, and there is 122 acres of woodland.

A Sustainable Farming Incentive agreement on the arable land runs until November 2027.

There are both modern and traditional farm buildings, some with planning permission for residential conversion, and equestrian facilities include a manège and five stables.

At the heart of the estate, which sits on the outskirts of Cross Houses, near Shrewsbury, is the Grade II listed Eaton Mascott Hall.

It includes a six-bedroom house with a self-contained two-bedroom flat, a tennis court and an indoor swimming pool nearby.

There are also 11 let properties, some with five or six bedrooms on the estate.

Devon dairy

Yellowford Farm © Stags

Also set in a ring-fence and newly launched in the Exe Valley, Devon, is a dairy farm which runs about 250 spring-calving cows on a grass-based grazing system.

Selling agent Stags’ head of farm agency, George Alder, sums up Yellowford Farm, near Tiverton, as a “top-class grassland dairy farm with rich, deep soils and a very long grazing period.”

It has the potential to continue as a dairy unit or be farmed as a mixed arable and livestock system, he adds.

The 186-acre farm has Grade 1 land with deep, free-draining soils. The fields have a network of cow tracks, and are currently down to grass herbal leys.

They are grazed by a herd that produces a milk yield average of 6,000 litres at 4.4% butterfat and 4.49% protein.

All the fields have been ploughed and have historically been farmed in a rotation of cereals, grass and potatoes.

Extensive farm buildings include a modern dairy with a 24/48 herringbone parlour and cubicle housing for 200 cows.

The farmhouse has six bedrooms and is surrounded by lawned gardens, which include an outdoor heated swimming pool and summerhouse.

The farm is sold with an existing development overage clause running for 80 years from 5 October 2012.

It requires 50% of the difference between current use value and enhanced value on the grant of planning consent for any development from its current state.

Yellowford Farm is being marketed at a guide price of £4m.

Yorkshire mixed farm

Meadowbank Farm © Savills

Also new to market is Meadowbank Farm, which sits along a bank of the River Derwent at Gate Helmsley, near York.

This 109-acre holding has a mixture of arable land and pasture. The land is Grade 3 with deep, sandy soil, and the arable fields have historically been used for growing cereals and root crops.

There are extensive, large modern general-purpose buildings suitable for storage and livestock use, but a restrictive covenant rules out intensive pig and poultry production.

The farm, which also has fishing rights along a single bank of the River Derwent, is on the market through Savills at a guide price of £850,000.