Farm sales bring keen anticipation in Wiltshire

There’s keen anticipation that a forthcoming auction featuring two Wiltshire farms will once more stimulate some spirited bidding. Back in July, Dreweatt Neate auctioned farmland and a house at Broad Town, near Wootton Bassett. The guide price had been £1.86 million but every lot in the sale exceeded guide, with a resulting £2.2 million paid for the property.

Now Dreweatt Neate is offering Down Farm, set on the hills above Pewsey on the road to nearby Everleigh. The farm, which consists of 500 acres with outbuildings and a pair of cottages, has a guide price of £3.75 million and is due to be sold at The Bear Hotel, Devizes, on September 30 at 2.30 p.m.

The property consists of a downland farm with far reaching views situated on the edge of Pewsey Hill comprising productive arable land and evocative south-facing pasture banks. Planning permission has been given for a new farmhouse and annexe to replace the cottages.

“This is a great opportunity to have both a productive farm and a new home in an area that enjoys spectacular views,” reports Chris Boreham, of Dreweatt Neate in Newbury.

“The setting could hardly be more impressive and yet there are fast trains passing through Pewsey, just three miles away, that reach London in around an hour. Road access is also excellent.

“The new four bedroom, three bathroom, house would sit virtually in the middle of the land. This would bring an interesting new phase in the history of the farm, which is an area that has long been inhabited and features many archaeological gems, including tumuli.”

The other Wiltshire farm to be sold on the same day is Wick Farm, at Heddington Wick, near Calne. It has a prominent position in the hamlet at the head of the Common with extensive views to the Marlborough Downs and Cherhill White Horse.

“This is a different type of property from Down Farm but current experience shows that it is still a type very much in demand,” commented Charles Lucas, who will auction it at the Hilton Hotel, Swindon, at 6.30 p.m.

“The farmhouse has been unoccupied for 19 years and needs complete renovation but the adjoining stables and other outbuildings have great potential for creating additional accommodation and there are also buildings that are suitable for a change of use to equestrian, subject to consents.

“The house, together with almost 11 acres of land, has a guide price of £500,000 to £550,000. The second lot at the farm, comprising almost 27 acres of level pasture, has a guide of £90,000 to £120,000, while the third lot, just over four acres of level paddock, has a guide of £30,000 to £40,000, as does the fourth lot, a slightly larger paddock.

“A third rural property being auctioned that day, again at the Hilton Hotel in Swindon at 6.30 p.m., is Park Mill Farm at Kingswood in South Gloucestershire. This is a now-dilapidated former farmhouse set in 20 acres that offers tremendous scope for restoration and extension. There are also outbuildings with potential for alternative uses, subject to consents.

“It is in a very quiet and peaceful location two miles from the larger centre of Wotton under Edge and only five miles from access to the M5 motorway. Guide price is £575,000 to £600,000.”

On a smaller scale, 2, Purton Stoke, near Swindon, a two bedroom cottage with an adjoining grass paddock, giving the property a total size of 1.3 acres, is being offered at a guide price of £150,000 to £200,000.

In Swindon itself, 188, Ermin Street, Stratton St. Margaret, is being offered at a guide price of £250,000 to £300,000. This is a three bedroom Victorian semi-detached house needing modernisation and sitting in a quarter acre that has outline planning permission for two dwellings. Both these will be offered at the Hilton Hotel phase of the sale.

For details of these and other properties in the auction, contact Dreweatt Neate in Chippenham - email chippenham@dnproperty.co.uk.