Rare opportunity to acquire sizeable Lincolnshire farm

A large Lincolnshire estate offering a good mix of commercial farming operations and development potential is due to be launched this month.

The 1960-acre Brauncewell Estate near Sleaford is for sale as a whole or in six lots, including two farms of a size rarely seen on today’s market.

The land is a mix of Grade 2 and 3 fine loamy and clayey soils which have supported a wide range of cropping including roots, onions, combinable crops and vining peas. Some land can be irrigated.

“It’s very unusual to be able to offer such a diverse estate,” said Charlie Paton of Savills. “It’s an attractive residential proposition, has great development options and is very much a commercial farming enterprise.

“We’re hoping to sell it as a whole. There are plenty of investment buyers out there looking to reposition funds. But it could go to a residential buyer or nearby farmers, too.”

The main residence, four-bedroom Brauncewell Manor, is lotted with traditional stone buildings. Planning permission exists for four substantial residences.

There is also a range of more modern buildings, including grain store and silos, machinery store/workshop and general purpose barn, together with 20 acres of permanent pasture.

A three-bedroom stone cottage set in the middle of the farm is available separately.

Land is lotted four ways. The most commercial block lies at Howell Fen, about nine miles to the south-east of the main estate. Westmoreland Farm consists of about 644 acres of Grade 2 and 3 arable land in a ring fence producing a wide range of crops. There is also a small area of woodland.

Extensive irrigation has been installed, which supplies about half the land from a 10m gallon reservoir with winter abstraction licence.

Four modern farm buildings provide storage for a range of cereal and root crops. They include a grain store for approximately 1200t, onion stores, potato store and a cold store. There is also machinery storage and further under-cover storage. A recently refurbished small farm cottage is included in the sale.

A further major block of land is available at Manor and Hill Farms, where just under 928 acres of Grade 2 and 3 land lies in a ring fence near Bloxholm.

Most – 890 acres – is down to arable and pasture, the rest is woodland. A small reservoir allows irrigation of up to 25 acres a year.

There is a range of traditional and modern buildings, including a grain store and machinery shed, as well as some redundant livestock buildings.

Hill Farm House has five bedrooms and comes with its own stables and other buildings, as well as a semi-detached cottage.

An off-lying 146-acre block of easy working, coarse and fine loamy Grade 2 land on the west side of the A15 is lotted separately.

A bigger area together with a range of farm buildings is available at nearby Dorrington House Farm, Dorrington. The Grade 3 soil runs to 190 acres of arable and pasture land and a small patch of woodland.

The Brauncewell Estate is guided at £13m for the whole. (Savills 020 7409 5916)