£4.85m paid out for arable farm and land
A Shropshire farm has sold at auction for £4.85 million. Marrington Cottages Farm at Chirbury, close to Montgomery, landed the hefty sum at auction after being placed on the market in July.
The 384-acre arable farm on the Welsh border, which included two refurbished cottages and a grain store, was bought by dairy farmer Fraser Jones, who lives at Court Calmore, in nearby Montgomery.
Mr Jones said he was 'delighted' to have had the chance to buy the farm and large block of land near his own dairy operation.
Halls' chairman Peter Willcock, who conducted the auction last week, said: "The price achieved for this farm reflects the scarcity of supply of good quality arable land in the Welsh borderlands area.
"The auction process was a clear and transparent method of achieving the highest price for this farm."
The farm had initially been up for sale as several separate lots. The two cottages, which are let on shorthold tenancies, were available with a guide price of £450,000, while a grain store, with planning permission for a workshop next door, was available for about £220,000.
The remaining three lots comprised packages of land of 212, 106 and 62 acres, which were available at about £8,000 per acre and combined were valued at more than £3 million.
Ultimately, however, the farm smashed through its guide price, fetching more than £1 million more than had been suggested in the guide.
That was in part thanks to recent work on the land which had seen the soil fertility improved with the application of lime, fertiliser and manure, while nearly three miles of ditching dug into the land had also improved yield and drainage.
According to figures released last month by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the average price in the region stood at £7,219 per acre in the first half of the year – almost treble the figure in 2003.
