Lincs blocks sale will be benchmark for autumn
Lincs blocks sale will be benchmark for autumn
By Louise Rose
TWO large blocks of land in Lincs are going on the market today which will be a great test for the commercial sector of the farmland market.
Both near Grantham, the progress of these sales is likely to act as a benchmark for sales planned for the autumn or next year.
The Thorpe and Asgarby Estate, east of Sleaford, is for sale on behalf of Barclays Bank pension fund and includes 2939 acres of vacant possession and tenanted land.
The land types vary from a sandy silt loam to a heavier clay loam with the majority classified grade 2. Cropping includes cereals, potatoes, sugar beet plus various field vegetables, while there is also an abstraction licence for 23m gallons.
Total income on the estate is in the region of £214,000/year and the tenanted land reflects a gross yield of just over 4.5%. As a whole, joint selling agents Bidwells and Strutt & Parker are guiding the estate at offers in the region of £4.5m but also have lotted it into three.
An in-hand farm of 859 acres with a four-bedroom farmhouse and a range of farm buildings including grain storage for about 1100t is currently farmed under contract generating an average income during the past five years of £128.20/acre. Separately it is guided at £2m which values the bare land at about £2400/acre.
The let land is divided into three farms and includes 13 dwellings most of which are rented by farm staff. All the tenancies are Agricultural Holdings Act occupied on a full repairing and insuring basis and the rents were last reviewed in April 1999.
Including about 1300 acres the largest tenanted unit generates a rental of £67,600/year (£52/acre) and current enterprises range from cereals to a suckler cow herd and a ewe flock. There are eight dwellings and a range of farm buildings with grain storage for about 1200t.
Sardesons Farm, about 510 acres, is occupied by a member of the Padley family which has a substantial poultry business in the area, the current rental is £29,600/year and the third tenant who farms 168 acres is in his 70s and appears to lack a successor.
"The estate has plenty of angles," says Jim Bryant, Bidwells. "There are opportunities to realise some capital from sales of property, the freehold reversion of one of the farms and some development potential."
Also for sale, the Stubton Estate includes 2003 acres of grades 2 and 3 mainly light sandy loam and a world renowned partridge and pheasant shoot.
In a ring fence the land is capable of growing a diverse range of crops including sugar beet, pulses and cereals, some of it is let for potato and vegetable production. The estate has an abstraction licence for 75m gallons.
As a whole it is guided at £5.9m but joint agents Brown & Co and CKD Kennedy Macpherson are also offering the estate in nine lots.
Most of the land is split into four main blocks ranging from the 1112 acre Moor and Brandon Lodge Farms to 162 acres which are subject to a company tenancy, the current rental is £8800/year.
All the farm buildings are at Moor Farm and include grain storage for 2800t, while two of the buildings have planning consent for commercial use.
Accommodation includes a five-bedroom modern farmhouse and five cottages. The keepers cottage and a range of traditional barns may have potential for redevelopment subject to planning consent and are available as a separate lot.