Tenants buy their farm after 44 years

AFTER 44 years as tenants, the Baxter family has finally succeeded in buying the farm they have worked for decades.

John and Gladys Baxter bought Eden Bank at Beaumont with their son David and two grandsons at auction last week. They paid £380,000 for the 201-acre dairy farm, less than half its market value, thanks to their position as sitting tenants.

The family had tried unsuccessfully to buy the mixed dairy farm from the John Wright Trust. They finally succeeded at last week's auction, held at Carlisle Racecourse by Smiths Gore.

Mr Baxter, 79, said: "This was the first chance we had to buy it. My son has tenancy after me and we're sitting tenants. It has worked out for us so well, we've been waiting for a long time.

"It would have gone for more than double if it weren't for the sitting tenancy."

The family is planning significant improvements to the farmhouse and buildings. A priority will be to re-roof the family home which has been leaking for years.

Gladys Baxter said: "I'm pleased because we've tried to buy it for years and years. Buying it has made me feel differently about the place. It gives me a good feeling that we now have a farm we can pass down the generations."

At the same auction, a 206-acre block of land at Rosley, near Wigton was sold for almost £1m.

More than 100 people gathered for the sale of the land at Low Ling which sold in four lots to farmers from Thursby and Curthwaite for a total of £954,000 (£4,631 per acre).

A block of 16.21 acres sold for £104,000 (£6,400 per acre), two blocks of 55 acres sold for £285,000 (£5,100 per acre) and £290,000 (£5,200 per acre) respectively, and a larger block of 79 acres sold for £275,000 (£3,400 per acre).