Newton Estate in South Lanarkshire is an idyllic stretch of Scotland, a whisker under 500 acres, which has just come to the market via Clegg & Co.
It's a beautiful, and brilliantly-located piece of land: it's just off the M74 motorway that links Glasgow to Carlisle and the South, and boasts a long stretch of Clyde riverbank to boot.
There are two cottages included in the sale as well as the land, which has a fascinating mix of uses. There are areas of commercial forest, radio masts, grazing land and even a small wind farm. The fishing rights on the Clyde are included, and while there has been no stalking on this land for some years there are Roe and Fallow deer in the area.
The cottages are charming. One of them, Newton House (pictured below), is close to the river in a delightful spot with stables and paddocks; the other, Bodsberry Cottage, is currently used as a holiday home.
The property has only been on the market for a week or so but it has already attracted a number of prospective buyers, according to the agents.
'Interest has been keen,' says Jon Lambert of the agents Clegg & Co. 'I am confident that the guide price of offers over £2.95 million will be substantially exceeded.”
That confidence is no surprise, since business has been brisk for such properties of late. John Clegg & Co's recently-released annual report on the state of the forestry market in Britain suggests a 40% year-on-year increase in the value of sales.
That equates to £111 million-worth of forest sold between 1 October 2016 and 30 September 2017. The bulk of the 17,272 hectares of woodland traded was in Scotland – some 78%, underlining the country’s dominant position in the commercial forestry marketplace. England's share amounted to 18% of the market whilst in Wales the share was 4%.
Fenning Welstead, a partner in John Clegg & Co’s Edinburgh office, suggested that prices could continue to rise, with demand strong and supply falling – something not helped by a lack of new forestry areas. 'With some notable exceptions, none have been established for almost thirty years,' he says.
'Many of the larger private plantations are now in the ownership of collective funds and portfolios. Whether they will come to the open market again is debatable and these funds continue to seek further acquisitions. There have been some very strong sales this year as a result.'
Newton Estate is for sale via Clegg & Co - see more details and pictures.
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