Estate branded “most important farming property to hit open market this year” is sold

By Nicky Godding

15 December 2020

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An estate that Country Life described as “by far the most important farming property to hit the open market this year” has been sold by rural land agents WebbPaton.

The magnificent 1,400 acre Ogbourne Down estate, which lies on the North Wessex Downs AONB just south of Barbury Castle Iron Age hill fort in Wiltshire, has been bought by an unnamed businessman from the South Coast area.

WebbPaton’s Mark Webb, whose firm has been selling farms and agricultural land in Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire for more than 20 years, said that interest in the estate had been considerable.

“A number of parties provided evidence of their ability to fund the £15 million guide price, so we were able to sell Ogbourne Down after significant competition and achieve a fantastic outcome,” said Webb.

“The estate really is quite magnificent, and I’m not surprised it’s considered the most significant sale in 2020 within the farming and rural land world. Ogbourne Down Farmhouse, which was built quite recently and so has none of the potential drawbacks of an older, listed property, enjoys the most fabulous far-reaching views across the entire farm, giving an idea of the scale of this superb estate. It really is a case of everything that you see before you is yours.”

Ogbourne Down comprises the main farmhouse with two further farmhouses and two cottages, and six ranges of farm buildings. Around 1100 acres are in arable production, 212 acres are in permanent pasture, and there are 59 acres of amenity woodland. Unsurprisingly, given the provenance of racing and equestrian sports in the region, the estate was sold with five grass gallops, extending to around 32 furlongs. The highly contoured woodland provides the basis for a very decent partridge shoot.

Ogbourne Down was launched to market in late July, and despite the Covid-19 restrictions, was sold under offer some four weeks later. Contracts were exchanged in mid-September and completion took place in late November.

The owner of Ogbourne Down, Angie Maundrell, whose late husband Godfrey trained and race-rode, said that she is indebted to the WebbPaton team who worked closely with her on securing the successful sale.

She said: “Having recently lost my husband, I did wonder whether I would be doing the right thing, but they made it all so easy."

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.