Smaller farm units offer chance to start or expand
The land market may be quietening down but several smaller farms and parcels of land are still coming forward.
Some will suit those looking to add extra acres to their farming or investment portfolio, while others could suit first or part-time farmers.
The Ness Farm, a 125-acre holding at North Muskham, near Newark, is mainly Grade 2 soil consisting of river silts over gravel. Most of the land – 83 acres – is arable and there is a further 35 acres of grassland and paddocks. The farm is situated on a known mineral reserve and all the land is in an HLS agreement, expiring April 2017.
The sale includes a four-bedroom farmhouse and traditional brick farm buildings. The property has good transport links and fronts the River Trent; there is an irrigation supply and a licence will be transferred on sale.
The Ness Farm has a guide price of £1.5m. (Fisher German 01636 642 500; Alasdair Morrison & Partners 01636 700 888)
Highford Park, near Hartland, north Devon, has 117 acres of gently sloping, loamy mostly grade 3 arable land with some pasture. It is for sale as a whole or two lots.
Lot 1 consists of a recently built two-bedroom house with scope to expand, a large general-purpose farm building and just over 91 acres in a ring fence. Lot 2 is almost 26 acres.
Most fields have good access or road frontage and are suited to cereals, other arable crops include maize and grass. Guide price for the whole is £1.35m. (Stags 01392 680 059)
Also in north Devon, an unusual block of bare land is for sale at Horsey Island, Braunton. Located next to the Taw and Torridge estuary, it offers 131 acres of highly productive pasture, which has been farmed as arable, and 54 acres of salt marsh, ponds and rough grazing. These are lotted separately.
The latter area is designated a County Wildlife Site and Horsey Island is a Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat, so is therefore a priority for higher tier environmental schemes, according to the agent. All the land is currently in an ELS.
Horsey Island is priced at £765,000 for the whole. (Savills 01392 455 700)
A ring-fenced stock farm with two houses is for sale near Mauchline, Ayrshire. Knowehead Farm includes about 123 acres of Grade 4 land, of which almost 109 acres is permanent pasture, and the rest rough grazing and woods.
The land is gently undulating and runs from 190-230m above sea level. The in-hand farming enterprise has been scaled back but previously carried 120 head of cattle.
Accommodation includes a recently converted four-bedroom house and an adjoining traditional two-storey, two-bedroom farmhouse. The farm buildings include equestrian facilities and there is permission for five caravan pitches for leisure and tourism. Offers of more than £650,000 are invited. (Strutt & Parker 0131 226 2500)
A 125-acre block of land is available at St Juliot, near Boscastle, north Cornwall. Lot 1 consists of 32 acres mainly Grade 3 land plus a modern agricultural building, two corrals and an open-ended silage clamp. Lot 2 includes a further 42 acres of Grade 3 land and 51 acres of cliff land for grazing.
The land has been in a Countryside Stewardship Scheme (ending this month) and an ELS and the cliff land is in an SSSI. The whole has a guide price of £725,000. (Humberts 01872 278 288)
Brook Farm, Wethersfield, Essex, was launched in June but is now offered with 182 acres of land (previously 64 acres) as a whole or in lots. It has a Grade II listed farmhouse stables, and both modern and traditional farm buildings.
Just over 150 acres of the Grade 3 land lies in a single block with a further 30 acres nearby. About 130 acres is arable land, the rest is grass and woodland.
The whole revised offering is available for £2.36m. (Land Partners 01376 328 297; Savills 01245 293 233)