Six of the best for Suffolk market

This weekend sees the launch of six Suffolk farms and two blocks of bare arable land by a single agent.
Clarke & Simpson’s unprecedented offering includes a wide range of holdings from almost 14ha (34 acres) up to 133ha (329 acres), all with a good house, good buildings and privacy. Most come to the market through retirement or the administration of an estate.
“This is quite unique,” said the firm’s Oliver Holloway. “It is the largest number of farms that Clarke & Simpson has brought to the open market at any one time.”
Earlier this year, the firm acted for the buyer of Kelsale Hall Farms – the largest block of arable land to ever have come onto the open market in Suffolk.
Largest of the six farms is Rookery Farm, Rendham (pictured), with a seven-bedroom farmhouse, buildings and 133ha (329 acres) of grade 2 and 3 land. There is a large range of traditional and modern buildings, some with alternative potential. More than 300 acres of the land is arable, heavy but well-drained and high yielding.
White Hall at Debenham has 83ha (205 acres), an eight-bedroom farmhouse, a substantial range of farm buildings and productive ring-fenced mainly grade 3 land in one block. Its 22,500sq ft of traditional and modern buildings includes grain storage. The farm has a £3m guide price.
Like most of these farms, Starhouse Farm at Thornham Magna is secluded, with a Grade 2 listed farmhouse, excellent range of modern buildings and productive grades 2 and 3 farmland of just over 126ha (312 acres). With a guide price of £2.9m, its mainly modern buildings include 1,600 tonnes of grain storage.
Irrigation is an increasingly sought-after attribute of East Anglian farms – Church Farm, Chillesford, near Woodbridge, comes with an abstraction licence for 5m gallons to irrigate 145 of its 208 acres.
This predominately light land farm has a very large Victorian farmhouse needing modernisation and a good range of farm buildings and carries a guide price of £2.2m.
Near Ipswich, Sycamore Farm at Bramford has just 14ha (34 acres) but includes a very good range of modern and traditional buildings. As well as the five-bedroom farmhouse, there is a two-bedroom cottage annexe included in the £950,000 guide price.
In north Suffolk, Oxbridge Farm, Fressingfield, has a listed farmhouse, extensive buildings and 61 acres of grade 3 mainly arable land. It is for sale as whole or in two lots with an overall guide price of £900,000.
Bare arable land is also included in Clarke & Simpson’s spring collection – there is 79 acres on the outskirts of Norton, near Bury St Edmunds, with a guide price of £560,000. At Rendham, near Saxmundham, a second lot of 49 acres is let on an FBT until September 2013 at a rent of £6,494. This has a £350,000 guide price and is in an Entry Level Stewardship scheme. (Clarke & Simpson 01728 621200)