East Learmouth NORTHUMBERLAND
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East Learmouth NORTHUMBERLAND PLAY VIDEO 1 2 EAST LEARMOUTH East Learmouth Cornhill-on-Tweed, Northumberland Newcastle-upon-Tyne 55 miles • Cornhill-on-Tweed 1.5 miles • Kelso 12 miles • Berwick-upon-Tweed 13 miles • Edinburgh 54 miles A BEAUTIFULLY LOCATED RESIDENTIAL, AGRICULTURAL AND SPORTING ESTATE AFFORDING CONSIDERABLE PRIVACY IN THE HEART OF THE TWEED VALLEY, A NOTED FARMING AREA EAST LEARMOUTH HOUSE Three reception rooms, six bedrooms, three bathrooms, biomass heating. SEVEN FURTHER DWELLINGS EAST LEARMOUTH STEADING Useful range of buildings including refrigerated potato store producing annual rental income of £50,000. Modern stabling. BRANXTON STEADING Traditional range with residential conversion potential. LAND 899.2 acres arable and temporary grass, 103.6 acres permanent grass, 32.1 acres rough grazing and 79.2 acres woodland. Full underground irrigation system. SPORTING RIGHTS Excellent, well established driven shoot. Trout fishing. Edwin Thompson Berwick-upon-Tweed Savills Edinburgh 44/48 Hide Hill, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Wemyss House Northumberland 8 Wemyss Place about 1142 acres (462 hectares) in total TD15 1AB Edinburgh EH3 6DH [email protected] for sale by private treaty with vacant possession [email protected] +44 (0) 1289 304432 as a whole or in two separate lots +44 (0) 131 247 3720 3 Situation This famous Border Estate is beautifully situated in lovely open countryside within a first class arable farming area just 1 mile south of the River Tweed and the Scottish Border. The Estate is served by a series of minor roads which connect to the A697 and A698 at Cornhill-on-Tweed (1½ miles) and these in turn provide direct access to Edinburgh and Newcastle, both of which have international airports. Additionally, there is a main line railway station on the east coast route at Berwick-upon-Tweed (13 miles) with direct connections to Edinburgh (45 minutes), Newcastle (45 minutes) and London (3¾ hours). Cornhill-on-Tweed provides good local facilities which include The Collingwood Arms Hotel, a farm machinery dealership and an excellent village shop, whilst Berwick-upon-Tweed and Kelso offer all the services normally associated with thriving market towns. There are primary schools at Norham, Ford and Berwick with high schools at Berwick, Duns, Eyemouth and Kelso. Private schooling is available in and around Edinburgh in addition to Longridge Towers, Berwick and St Mary’s in Melrose. The area is well served by numerous agricultural suppliers, grain and machinery merchants and there are livestock markets at Wooler (11 miles) and St Boswells (22 miles). North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders remain remarkably unspoilt and provide the opportunity for an excellent quality of life. This is an area of low population and contrasting landscapes ranging from the upland expanses of the Cheviots and Lammermuirs through to the fertile farmland of the Tweed Valley and beyond to the rugged cliffs and golden sands of the east coast. There are popular sports and arts centres at Berwick and, for the golf enthusiast, a number of links and inland courses which include those at Goswick, Bamburgh, The Hirsel and the championship course at the SCHLOSS Roxburghe. There are several local riding schools, excellent hacking and walking throughout the area and national hunt racing at both Kelso and Musselburgh near Edinburgh. Kelso ice rink is a well supported curling venue and the east coast, which is less than 12 miles distant, provides dramatic scenery, magnificent beaches, sailing, surfing, sea fishing and exceptional diving. 4 EAST LEARMOUTH Hunting is available with the North Northumberland College modern agricultural practices. Most of the land is classified as Grade Valley, Berwickshire and Percy hunts whilst the River Tweed and 2 under the Ministry Land Classification Plan. its tributaries provide renowned salmon and sea trout fishing Soils vary, but generally constitute easily worked, fertile, deep, opportunities. A number of upland and low ground estates offer free draining, light-medium loams (Wick Association) which excellent game shooting. have the versatility to grow a wide variety of combinable crops and vegetables including potatoes. The arable land benefits from a full Directions underground irrigation system which draws from the reservoir in Drive to the centre of the village of Cornhill-on-Tweed and, at enclosure 17. approximately the mid-point between the hotel and the roundabout, Field drainage is good and the land is clean with no significant weed take the minor road which is signed Learmouth 1, Mindrum 4. After ingress. The Duddo Burn, a minor tributary of the River Tweed, 1 mile turn left into East Learmouth. The postcode is TD12 4QB. runs through the farm and this, together with one or two other smaller streams and a number of field troughs, provide water to Historical Note most of the permanent grass. The Estate is served by several minor, unclassified public roads. These, together with the good private The area has a rich and colourful history illustrated by the hardcore track running through the main eastern block and several Elizabethan walls and ramparts in Berwick and by the impressive other shorter internal tracks, enable direct access to the majority of castles at Ford, Holy Island and Bamburgh and by many other priories fields. and abbeys which stretch from the mouth of the river at Berwick west along the Tweed Valley. Close to Flodden Field and the monument Most of the arable land is sown down to winter wheat, winter oilseed ‘To the Brave of Both Nations’, the Estate includes the ‘English rape, winter and spring barley (grown to malt) with a further 130 Strother’, another remnant from that battle which took place at acres or thereabouts of main crop potatoes grown for chipping. In Branxton Hill on 9 September, 1513. recent years dairy young stock has been summered on the grass although, latterly, much of the grass has been licensed for seasonal Most of the Estate was owned by the Grey family from 1885 and was grazing purposes. held by Earl Grey of Fallodon, the Foreign Secretary, at the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, until sold to the Davidsons in 1919. In 1940 East Learmouth steading provides extensive cover and includes the Estate was sold on lease back to the Astors who held it until 1984. a purpose built potato store. Planning consent (now lapsed) for Branxton Buildings Farm (306 acres), contiguous to the east, was conversion of the secondary steading at Branxton Buildings to three added in 1986. dwellings was obtained in 2013. East Learmouth House is a handsome traditional family house with General Description tremendous scope. Centrally situated just east of the main steading, The sale of East Learmouth provides a rare opportunity to acquire it overlooks a lovely garden with ornamental ponds and open views to an exceptional diverse residential, agricultural and sporting Estate Monylaws Hill to the south east. located in the heart of the Tweed Valley in a lovely private situation. Additionally, there is a modern bungalow, five traditional farm The Estate is well shaped and lies within a single ring fence divided cottages all of which have been substantially modernised, and a only by the minor public roads which run through it. The topography recently converted house within the farm steading. is gently rolling with most of the land lying between the 30m and The Estate woodland combined with the natural topography provides 60m contours and running up to a top height of 89m at Sandy’s Folly the basis for a well established quality driven pheasant shoot. Plantation. The Estate’s large, well shaped fields are entirely suited to 5 Woodland Renewable Energy The woodland extends to approximately 79.2 acres in over A pellet fed Windhager biomass system based on three 60kW 20 separate plantations scattered throughout the Estate and, for boilers was installed in 2016. It serves the main house, Steward’s the most part, was planted between 1983 and 2000. Most of the Barn and Cottage and the farm office range. The system attracts woods are fully stocked, the principal species including scots the commercial RHI tariff which lasts for 20 years and which is pine, sitka spruce, larch, leyland cypress and mixed broadleaves, currently producing a total annual payment of approximately particularly sycamore, oak, gean, whitebeam and rowan. Most of £20,000 (index linked) in addition to the value of the fuel saved. the woodland has now reached commercial production stage. Irrigation There is an ongoing liability in respect of one former Farm Woodland Premium Scheme which the Purchasers will be All of the arable land on East Learmouth is irrigable through an obligated to take over, but no other recent Forestry Commission underground system supplemented by de-mountable overground involvement. pipework. Most of the system was installed in the late 1980s. The irrigation reservoir in enclosure 17 was built in 1987 and extends The woodland together with the numerous hedges and hedgerow to approximately 6 acres. The capacity above natural ground trees which run through the Estate add considerably to the diversity level (as originally measured) is understood to be approximately of wildlife habitat and its overall amenity. 21,179m3 (4,658,000 gallons). The pumphouse at the east end of the reservoir was built in 1995. Sporting East Learmouth has an excellent driven pheasant shoot which Basic Payment normally provides eight - nine days each season with approximately The Estate has an allocation of 417.15 Basic Farm Payment eleven main drives. The shoot is based principally on game plots Entitlements. These are not included in the sale but may be and the woodland, much of which has been planted to benefit the available to purchase by separate negotiation at market value. shoot. Exceptional birds can be shown, most particularly from Sandy’s Folly.