Lands of hope and glory

Farms and estates did not lose their appeal in 2023, with some local buyers and even a happy ending to a long-running Cornish dispute

- Penny Churchill

DIRECT support for English farmers may be on the way out, but there's still a huge appetite for land and estates among investors, lifestyle buyers, farmers and conservationists, as sales achieved in 2023 clearly indicate.

For Alex Lawson, head of rural agency at Savills, the standout estate sale of the year was that of the illustrious Adlington Hall, which lies within Cheshire's golden triangle, five miles east of Wilmslow and seven miles north of Macclesfield. Family seat of the Legh family since 1315, the 1,921-acre estate came to the market in September 2022 for the first time in more than 700 years, at a guide price of $30m through Savills and Mark Wiggin Estate Agency, and was sold as a whole to a long-term investor in autumn 2023.

At its heart stands Grade I-listed Adlington Hall, a handsome, 20,000sq ft quadrangular building, which stands on the site of a Saxon hunting lodge and was rebuilt in two phases in the Tudor and Stuart period, restored after the Civil War and extended in the mid 18th century by Charles Legh, who also built the matching Grade II*-listed stable courtyard and extensively remodelled the park and gardens. The north section of the historic mansion houses the magnificent Tudor Great Hall and its famous organ, forever associated with Legh's friend, composer Frideric Handel. The surrounding estate comprises six let farms and 22 houses and cottages, plus various ancillary buildings and parcels of land.

Will Matthews, head of farms and estates at Knight Frank, oversaw the successful sale of two contrasting Oxfordshire estatesGolder Manor Farm at Pyrton near Watlington, and Woodleys near Woodstock-both launched in the latter half of 2022 at guide prices of £25m and £16m respectively.