No go-slow as Cumbria gets moving again
No go-slow as Cumbria gets moving again
By Andrew Shirley
CUMRIAN farmers dug deep into their pockets at the countys first land auction since foot-and-mouth, countering speculation that the regions land market would hit the doldrums in the wake of the disease.
"I was very unsure as to what would happen, but the actual outcome was extremely positive," said land agent David Bulman, whose firm, Hopes of Wigton, put a 142-acre mixed lowland farm and almost 100 acres of Grade 3 arable land under the hammer last week.
The block of land, near Lessonhall, Wigton, was split eight ways and was snapped up by five neighbouring producers who paid an average of £4079/acre for the soil. Mr Bulman said two of the buyers were brothers who had dissolved their partnership in the light of F&M and decided to go their separate ways in the same parish.
"A lot of the farms in this area are small family units with scattered fields so I think some of the purchasers were taking the opportunity to consolidate. People here are also very resilient. They are not in farming for fun, it is all they know. Many have decided to dig in, and to do that they need more land," he added.
Studhome Farm, near Kirkbridge, was originally due to come on the market this time last year, but F&M put the sale on hold. The holding, a former dairy unit, was culled out during the outbreak and Form A restrictions will not be lifted until the end of February. But this didnt deter land agent Nick Schofield paying £402,000 on behalf of farmer clients, one of whom who had sold his own farm for development.
Although Mr Bulman was upbeat about demand for the rest of the season, and reckoned farmland values were unlikely to fall, he warned that not all sales will necessarily have such a good result. "I could market land just down the road and achieve half the price. Location is still very important."
This will soon be put to the test, when Hopes, in conjunction with H&H Bowe, auction off Mountain View, a 110-acre stock farm at High Scales, Wigton, on Feb 19.
Meanwhile, farmers further south failed to make an impact at an earlier public sale, held in January by Staffs-based firm Hinson Parry.
Parkfields Farm, Tittensor, near Stone – a former 90-acre dairy unit – was sold in four lots with the larger blocks of grass making almost £3500/acre. Just under 50 acres at neighbouring Brookhouse Farm, part of the same holding, fetched £2184/acres for a 38-acre parcel, while the balance went for £8041/acre.
"Although the room was packed there was limited agricultural interest. Most of the bids came from corporate or long-term investors," said agent John Hinson.
He reckons people who have fallen foul of the stock market are now prepared to buy land on the edge of villages in the hope of some development-driven capital growth in the future.
The only lot to go to a farmer was a 33-acre plot of former parkland, at Stallington, let under an agricultural holdings act tenancy. Sold on behalf of the NHS property portfolio it was bought by the sitting tenant for £1347/acre. *
No longer closed, the Cumbrian land market is picking up after F&M.