An entire English village in Hampshire, complete with two blacksmiths, a shop and a cricket club, has been put up for sale for £22.5 million (pounds sterling).
Nestling in the rolling countryside of the north Hampshire, near the borders with Berkshire and Wiltshire, Linkenholt is the archetypal English village with a Manor House, Old Rectory and Clock Tower and is designated by Natural England as an area of outstanding natural beauty
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The tiny hamlet of 22 houses and cottages lies in the heart of a 2,000-acre estate being sold by the Herbert and Peter Blagrave Charitable Trust - a philanthropic racing figure who died in 1981. It goes on the market this week.
With no heir, the late Herbert Blagrave left his family fortune to a trust, along with orders that the money should be spent on sick children, the elderly and injured jockeys.
Since much of that fortune is still tied up in Linkenholt, the trustees have decided that the time has come to sell and use the capital elsewhere.
Aside from the shop, cricket pitch and the 22 houses and cottages there is a commercial shoot (pheasant and partridge), farming land, and an educational activity centre for children.
The grounds also include 425 acres of woodland, most of which are ancient and semi-natural. The only thing that does not belong to the Herbert and Peter Blagrave Charitable Trust, and so is therefore not for sale, is the 12th Century St Peter's Church.
The trustees have no wish to break up the community, so they are selling the estate as a whole but some of the locals are understandably apprehensive about their uncertain future.
The general feeling within the community is a hope to retain the status quo of this beautiful little hamlet in England.
The sale of a whole village is a rare occurrence, but in fact, it’s not the first time the village has been up for sale. Back in 1964, the estate was sold for £540,000.
24 июл 2024
