Location

The village of Sharpenhoe in Bedfordshire is nestled at the foot of the Sharpenhoe Clappers, part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and National Landscape. Managed by the National Trust, Sharpenhoe Clappers is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and provides a beautiful backdrop to the farm.

Sharpenhoe lies between Barton-Le-Clay to the east and Harlington to the west. Primary and secondary schools, café's, restaurants and supermarkets are available in these villages. More comprehensive facilities are available in the nearby towns of Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes.

Transport links are excellent with Sharpenhoe located approximately 2 miles to the east of Junction 12 of the M1 whilst the A6 running from Luton to Bedford borders the eastern boundary of the farm. Mainline trains are available from Harlington (Kings Cross St Pancras 42 mins) and Luton (Kings Cross St Pancras 25 mins).

Description

Introduction
Rarely is a commercial arable farm at scale offered for sale within the coveted Oxford to Cambridge Arc.

Conveniently located between the M1 to the west and the A6 to the east, Bury Farm at Sharpenhoe offers the opportunity to acquire a highly productive commercial cereal farm equipped with a range of modern agricultural and commercial farm buildings and three let houses.

Bury Farm extends to approximately 1,429 acres of which 1,398 acres are productive arable land with the balance being woodland (16 acres) and miscellaneous areas including buildings and tracks (15 acres).

Farming
Bury Farm represents an excellent opportunity for farmers and investors alike to acquire a commercial cereal farm at scale. The fields are of a good size and shape for modern farming methods with excellent access from public highways and internal tracks. The land has been farmed in hand for the duration of the current ownership and has been sympathetically cropped with wheat, oilseed rape, oats and barley.

The arable area across the farm extends to about 1,398 acres with the majority of the land classified as Grade 3 on the Land Classification of England and Wales maps. There are areas classified as Grade 2 around the villages of Harlington and Sharpenhoe.

The land ranges from heavier clay based soils on the lower lying fields to lighter chalk based soils on the higher, more undulating fields. These soils are suitable for growing a range of high performing cereal crops when conditions allow.

The farm has consistently produced high yielding cereal crops with average winter wheat yields of 3.5 t/acre, spring oats of 2.5 t/acre and spring barley of 2.5 t/acre.

The farm is in good heart having been well maintained by the owners and their farm manager. The land has been extensively drained over the years with copies of the drainage plans being available upon request.

The farm is entered into a Countryside Stewardship Scheme terminating in December 2028. The buyer(s) will be expected to take over this scheme upon completion. The options selected are a range of overwintered stubbles, legume fallow mixes, cover crops and buffer strips. A copy of this agreement is available upon request.

The spinneys and woodland along with strategically planted game covers have historically formed the basis of private shoot.