SOUTHDOWN BARNS LEE FARM DARTHIGH & BICKINGTON START BAY ESTATE NORTH DEVON SOUTH DEVON Lee Farm High Bickington Umberleigh Devon EX37 9BX A 194 acre commercial dairy farm with a 6 bedroom farmhouse, modern buildings and traditional farm buildings suitable for conversion, with views of Exmoor and Dartmoor High Bickington – 2 miles Umberleigh – 4.7 miles Barnstaple – 7.5 miles North Devon Coast – 11 miles Exeter – 30 miles M5 Junction 27 – 35 miles 3,500 ft2 6 bedroom farmhouse 92 cubicles & loose housing 930 tonne (57.5 m2) silage clamps 3,900 ft2 traditional cob and stone buildings 8 : 16 swing-over herringbone parlour 72 Non-SDA entitlements by separate negotiation 25,345 ft2 modern buildings 35,000 ft3 (1,000 m3) above ground slurry tank 16 acres deciduous woodland Townsend Chartered Surveyors Matford Centre, Exeter EX2 8FD T 01392 823935 F 01392 823938 E [email protected] www.townsendcharteredsurveyors.co.uk Description Lee Farm is a commercial dairy unit, having been farmed by the same family since the 1800s, with mostly south-facing and well-drained land on a low ridge, straddling a single- track road between High Bickington and Great Torrington on the edge of the Taw Valley. The attractive deciduous woods running along the boundary streams add amenity and sport- ing interest. The 3,500 ft2 cosy and fully double-glazed six bedroom farmhouse, with picturesque views towards Ex- moor and Dartmoor, provides flexible accommodation, mak- ing it suitable to use as two dwellings. There is also potential for further dwellings, subject to the Class Q of Town and Country Planning (General Permitted and therefore has been farmed by the same family since the usual consents, in the traditional buildings alongside the Development) Order 2015. late 1800s. Both the historic and more up-to-date aerial pho- house and in the Threshing barn, which has stunning views tographs illustrate the layout of the traditional buildings, and over open countryside towards Exmoor, and potential for a History how the modern buildings have been added since the separate access from the east. All the traditional buildings Lee Farm was owned by the Pinkham Trust when it was 1980s. Up until five years ago, with additional rented land, were in agricultural use in March 2013, and therefore would purchased in 1913 by the Vendor’s uncle as a sitting tenant, the Vendor milked 120 Friesian cross Holsteins with follow- meet this criteria for residential planning permission under who then left the farm to the Vendor’s father in the 1940s, ers. Leading up to his retirement, the Vendor now milks 68 cows with replacements, store bullocks and 300 yearling ewes on a silage and maize system, taking advantage of the heavy grass production on the farm. He has a contract with Arla, going to North Tawton’s cheese factory. Location The village of High Bickington, 2 miles from Lee Farm, has a primary school, a 12th century church, a village shop and a public house. Lee Farm is approximately 7½ miles south of Barnstaple, North Devon’s principal town and arguably the oldest borough in the United Kingdom, which is the area’s main business, commercial, leisure and shopping centre, also offering primary and secondary education and a num- ber of churches. 30 miles to the south the cathedral city and county town of Exeter offers an extensive range of recrea- tional, educational, cultural and shopping facilities. Travel links Road The A361 North Devon Link road offers easy access to the M5, while the A377 connects Exeter to Barnstaple via the Taw Valley. Rail From Umberleigh Sta- tion (4 miles away) the Tarka line follows the Taw Valley and terminates in Exeter, where connections can be made to London, the Midlands, the North and Scotland. Ferry Ferry services operate from Plymouth to Brittany and northern Spain. Air Exeter International Airport (45 miles) offers Farmhouse The accommodation is arranged over two floors with two flights across the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as to The south-facing farmhouse enjoys views to both moors, set staircases, and has two kitchens, with the old dairy (with France and the Iberian Peninsula. Bristol International Air- back from the road leading down to High Bickington, with a slate shelving and flagstone floor) and second downstairs port (80 miles) also offers a wide range of domestic and walled garden to the front, and the farm buildings to its sides bathroom between them, six bedrooms and three reception international flights from a broader range of airlines. and rear. It is thought to have been built in the late 18th cen- rooms. The sixth bedroom houses the water tanks. tury, is unlisted, and of brick and stone (reputedly from Lee Schools High Bickington, Umberleigh and Barnstaple all Wood quarry at the bottom of the hill opposite the entrance The farmhouse would be suitable for two families and with offer primary education, with secondary and further educa- to OS No. 8867) construction with Welsh slate pitched and some minor alterations would easily convert permanently tion available in Barnstaple. Independent schools in the area mono-pitched felted roofs, an insulated roof space, PVC into two dwellings (either two 3-beds, or a 2-bed and a 4- include Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Exeter School in Exe- double-glazed windows throughout, and an EPC rating of bed), as the house is currently being shared temporarily by ter and Kingsley School in Bideford. F38. The previous farmhouse was next to the slurry tank. two related families. Traditional Buildings T3 – Tool Store 16’ x 16’ (4.9m x 4.9m) Two-storey stone, Modern Farm Buildings There are two sets of traditional buildings totalling 3,900 ft2 brick and concrete block with hayloft accessed via an The modern buildings totalling 25,345 ft2 (2,354 m2) have (364 m2). The first is adjacent to the farmhouse and includes external door under a felted pitched slate roof. been continuously updated since the construction of the a large Cob barn (T1) 2,400 ft2 (224 m2) with an adjoining T4 – Former milking parlour 38’ x 16’ (11.6m x 4.9m) original cowshed (M4/M3) in the early 1980s, and are well range of buildings, with the Threshing barn (T7) 1,500 ft2 Single storey stone, brick and concrete block walls served by extensive concrete yards. (140 m2) and extensions to the rear of the farmstead with a under a felted pitched slate roof. M1 – Loose Housing 105’ x 75’ (32m x 22.9m) Steel por- north-easterly outlook toward Exmoor National Park. There T5 – Shippens 32’ x 16’ (9.7m x 4.9m) Single storey tal frame under a corrugated fibre sheet roof with is potential for a new access to the east of the farm build- stone, brick and concrete block walls under a pitched rendered concrete block walls, corrugated fibre sheet ings, subject to the relevant consents, meaning the Thresh- slate roof. cladding, Yorkshire boarding and a 5m wide feed ing barn could be accessed independently from the rest of T6 – Bull Pen 22’ x 16’ (6.7m x 4.9m) Single storey with passage. Built in the late-1980s. the buildings, were they to be developed. All of the tradition- open yard constructed as T5. M2 - Parlour, Collecting Yard & Loose Housing 60’ x al buildings have potential to be converted into a number of To the northeast corner of the yard, the second group of 75’ (18.3m x 22.9m) Steel portal frame built in the uses, including residential units, holiday cottages etc. sub- traditional buildings are: mid-1980s, with concrete block walls, Yorkshire ject to the usual consents. T7 – Threshing Barn 39’ x 21’ (11.9m x 6.4m) Cob and boarding and fibre sheet cladding under a corrugated T1 – Cob Barn 32’ x 18’ (9.7m x 5.5m) Part-rendered stone under a corrugated galvanised steel sheeted fibre sheet roof. Incorporates the 8 : 16 swing-over stone, cob and brick under a pitched felted slate roof. roof, with potential for conversion along with adjoin- herringbone parlour, collecting yard and loose hous- Houses the oil tank for the farmhouse’s central heat- ing buildings. Originally thatched. ing. ing, and chemical store. T8 – Root House 13’ x 16’6” (4m x 5m) Stone and brick M3 – Cubicle Shed 90’ x 75’ (27.4m x 22.9m) Multi-span, T2 – Lean-to 14’ x 7’ (4.3m x 2.2m) Stone, brick and con- under a pitched slate roof. steel portal frame originally built in the early 1980s crete block under a felted slate roof, currently used T9 – Granary 20’ x 24’ (6.1m x 7.3m) Stone under a and extended in 1992. Concrete block walls with as a dog kennel. pitched slate roof. Yorkshire boarding under a corrugated fibre sheet roof. Four rows of 92 raised rubber-mattressed post-bolted free-standing galvanised tubu- lar steel cubicles, feed passages and troughs. Partly using a sectional shuttered concrete walled silage clamp which has effluent drainage to the slurry tank pit. M4 – Lean-to 60’ x 30’ (18.3m x 9.1m) Originally part of M3 but following extension in the early 1990s is now separate loose housing. Steel frame corrugated fibre sheeted roof with con- crete block walls and Yorkshire boarding. M9 M5 – Machinery/Straw Shed 60’ x 30’ (18.3m x 9.1m) Concrete block walled lean-to built in the late 1980s with a corrugated fibre sheeted timber roof and Yorkshire boarding. T8 T9 M6 – Calf Shed 46’ x 50’ (14m x 15.24m) Built in 2015. Steel frame with sectional shuttered M5 concrete walls and a timber dung-boarded back wall, Yorkshire boarding and a corrugated T7 M4 fibre sheeted roof.