The big country SELL-OFF
The prices of many rural homes are being slashed – so is now the right time to bag a bucolic bargain?
ACROSS much of Britain, nothing – not even leaving the EU – seems to be able to affect property prices, as they continue heading ever higher. Yet all is not quite as it seems. Look carefully in many rural areas and you’ll discover that some properties are actually tumbling in value – with a few having their prices slashed by hundreds of thousands of pounds.
And we’re not talking about remote, rundown properties where few would want to live: these are desirable, large houses with plenty of land.
One example is Lancych Mansion, a pretty Gothic country house in the Cych valley of Pembrokeshire. It is a five-minute drive to Crymych, a thriving village with shops, post office, medical centre, pub and two choirs, and its Welsh-speaking secondary school is the best performing in the county.
A 15-minute drive north is the busy town of Cardigan, and about an hour south-east takes you to Swansea.
Agent James Skudder at Fine & Country has seen the asking price for Lancych drop dramatically. ‘Five years ago it went from £1.95million to £1.75million to £1.45million within six months. It’s remained at £1.35million since 2012.
‘The top end of the market in this area takes longer to sell. At over £900,000, the buying market is going to be small, but, for the lifestyle, it offers wonderful value for money.’
In 2007, when Bryn and Liz Drew bought Lancych, originally with four bedrooms, they restored the adjoining derelict cottage. This gave the house seven bedrooms on the first floor and provided a twobedroom ground-floor flat that they use as a holiday let. The house comes with 59 acres and 300ft of doublebank fishing on the Riverr Cych.
‘Ironically, neither of us fishes,’ says Liz. ‘And after four years – when we’d restored the cottage, put in a new kitchen and made an extra bathroom – we felt the house was just too big for us. We aren’t in the first flush h of youth and the drive e from our London flat was s becoming too much.’
THEY will both h be sad to leave Lancych. ‘The trees are so beautiful and there are lovely walks all around, but we have to be practical. We need somewhere smaller,’ says Liz. Over in the West Country near Yeovil is a delightful Grade II listed property, Boleyn House. Originally 17th Century, it was remodelled in the Georgian period.
At almost 5,000sq ft, Boleyn House has three reception rooms, five bedrooms, two bathrooms and an annexe with a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. In the paved and drystone-walled courtyard is the former coach house, currently a garage and store, with a second garage at the front of the property.
A newly fitted bespoke kitchen has solid oak units and bamboo flooring. The white electric Aga is complemented by a hand-painted tiled surround. The gardens have deep herbaceous borders, formal lawns, an ancient yew and a small orchard.
Boleyn House went on the market in May at £975,000 and is now for sale at offers in excess of £850,000. Agent Stephen Hennessy at Symonds & Sampson explains that the owner has moved to another property and is keen to sell. ‘The market for residential sales between £750,000 and £1million is very competitive in the West Country,’ he says. ‘Now is a good time to buy: money has never been cheaper and there are some excellent mortgage deals around.’
Less than an hour’s drive from the M25, and with easy access to the A303 for an hour’s commute to Exeter, Boleyn House is well placed. Situated in the village of Ash, with pub, restaurant, pre- and primary school, it is only two miles from the town of Martock.
Notwithstanding the discrepancy between country and town proper- ties, which traditionally sell much faster, Mr Hennessy says there has been a change in momentum over the past few months. ‘I think the post-Brexit effect had been underestimated,’ he says. ‘There has been a knee-jerk reaction.’
Agent James Denne at Knight Frank echoes Mr Hennessy’s view that there is a slice of the rural market that is currently very competitive. ‘Mid-market properties represent staggering value for money now,’ he says.
Mr Denne is currently selling Mounthooley House in the Scottish Borders. It came on the market in May at £745,000 and is now £695,000. A Georgian farmhouse with seven bedrooms, four reception rooms, four bathrooms, conservatory and office, it comes with more than 13 acres of garden, grazing and woodland.
Mounthooley is a handsome house with a panelled dining hall and open fireplaces. It has a range of stone outbuildings including stables, tack room and garaging.
Situated three miles from Jedburgh, it is a 20-minute drive to the new station at Tweedbank, outside Melrose, with journeys to Edinburgh taking less than an hour.