A rare opportunity to acquire an outstanding diversified farming enterprise set in an elevated position in the renowned Frome Valley.
The farm comprises a classical Grade II Listed 7 bedroomed Farmhouse with outdoor swimming pool, tennis court and stabling.
In addition to the main residence is an attractive 4 Bedroomed Oast House.
The farm also includes an established Holiday Lodge Business with six lodges and one tree tent in a private Woodland setting.
In addition there is a boutique Cidery with visitor facilities and tasting room. The farm buildings include a modern 15,500 sq ft hop drying building, modern framed apple clamp with lean-to and general traditional stores.
The land extends in total to about 307.23 acres of Hop Yards, Apple Orchards, Arable Land, Vineyard, Grassland and Woodland.
The farm is situated in an elevated location with far reaching views across the Frome Valley and distant Malvern Hills. The River Frome meanders through the farm.
The farm is located in a private yet easily accessible location in the rural hamlet of Avenbury within 2 miles of the market town of Bromyard. Bromyard is nestled in the heart of Herefordshire.
This picturesque town offers a delightful blend of historical heritage, natural beauty, and a vibrant community.
There are independent shops, boutiques, eateries and galleries, offering an array of unique and locally sourced produce.
A short distance away, the rolling hills beckon outdoor enthusiasts to explore the nearby Bromyard Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, known locally as the Jewel of Herefordshire.
There are local Primary and Secondary Schools nearby as well as several outstanding independent schools in Malvern, Hereford, Worcester and Cheltenham.
The Farmhouse
The Grade II Listed farmhouse is a traditional 7 bedroomed painted brick residence with a slate roof.
The farmhouse has an attractive porch with Doric columns and semi-circular balcony with iron railings overlooking the surrounding countryside.
There is a landscaped lawned garden to the front with a traditional rose garden to the rear leading to a larger lawned garden. To the side of the property is an air source heated outdoor swimming pool and gateway to the tennis court, stabling and paddocks.
As one would expect for a traditional farmhouse, the residence features spacious rooms throughout and is very well presented making it a wonderful family home.
Exhibiting Georgian architectural styles, the farmhouse has a plethora of characterful features including moulded architraves, wood floors, exposed beams, and period fireplaces.
Ground Floor
Kitchen
Exposed beamed ceiling, two oven electric Aga plus Aga-branded conventional electric oven, built-in cupboards with granite worktops and sash window overlooking the front garden.
Pantry
With traditional slate worktop and quarry tile floor
Entrance Hall and Family Room
With moulded architraves, Doric columns and sash window overlooking the front garden
Dining Room
Traditional wooden floor with exposed beams and delightful period wooden staircase leading to the first floor. Door leading to rear rose garden and window overlooking the same. Understairs door to cellar below.
Sitting Room
Triple bay window overlooking the traditional rose garden, traditional fireplace with wood burning stove, carpet, exposed beams and built in bookshelves
Boot Room
Tiled floor leading to separate shower room and WC, leading to Utility and Study
Utility
Situated in the hallway with shelving, butlers sink and plumbing for washing machine
Study Room
Dual aspect windows with carpet floor and inbuilt shelving.
Cellar
With external entrance and internal entrance from Dining Room
First Floor
Master
Double bedroom with inbuilt wardrobes and balcony overlooking the rear garden and outdoor pool.
Bathroom
Stylish traditional Victorian style bathroom suite with rolltop bath, traditional close coupled toilet and wash hand basin, with wood floor and wooden wall panelling
Bedroom 2
Double bedroom with exposed beams and window overlooking the front garden
Bedroom 3
Double bedroom with exposed beams and balcony overlooking the front garden
Bathroom
Contemporary bathroom suite with panel bath, walk in shower, close coupled toilet and wash hand basin with mirror above. The floor is part tile part wood with window overlooking rear garden.
Second Floor
Staircase leading to:
Bedroom 4
Attic room with exposed beams and skylight. Door through to:
Bedroom 5
Attic room with exposed beams, wooden painted floor and skylight.
Bathroom
Corner shower, WC and wall mounted sink with heated towel rail and tile floor
Bedroom 6
Attic room with exposed beams and skylight. Door through to:
Store / Bedroom 7
Large double.
Traditional Brick Outbuilding
The nearby 19th Century two storey brick outbuilding houses the farm office and provides additional extensive space for storage or scope for further residential accommodation subject to planning.
The ground floor provides two offices, laundry room and toilet. The first floor is an open plan space with exposed beams, exposed brick walls and modern wood burner.
This area would make a fabulous additional entertaining area for the main house subject to further works. Planning Permission was granted under ref: 132347/F in 2013 for domestic accommodation and change of use to offices / teaching / exhibition space.
Outside
The property benefits from well-established mature gardens. A large stone terrace has steps leading down to the south facing traditional rose garden with pond and archways.
There is a timber framed covered outdoor seating area overlooking the garden with steps down to a croquet lawn. The gardens provide ample space to enjoy the tranquil setting and offer sufficient outdoor space in which to host garden parties.
The property includes an outdoor heated swimming pool, tennis court, garaging and stables with surrounding paddocks.
The Oast House
The Oast House is a substantial three storey brick barn conversion which was converted in 2019.
The property has been finished to a high specification and is flooded with natural light. The elevated position of the Oast provides far reaching views.
The property benefits from underfloor heating from the farm biomass boiler.
Ground Floor
Garden Room
Beautifully light garden room with glass roof, bifold doors and french doors leading to the garden and to:
Kitchen / Dining Room
Open plan kitchen / dining room, kitchen comprising modern gloss grey wall and base units, electric AGA, plumbing for a dishwasher and tiled floor. Dining area with an engineered wooden floor
Entrance Hall
Open light entrance hall with oak and glass staircase leading to the first floor. Full height glass windows and glass ceiling. Doors leading to kitchen, study and garden.
Sitting Room / Reception Room 1
With feature windows, engineered wooden floor with door leading to garden and boot room.
Boot Room
With a tiled floor, oak and iron spiral staircase leading to the First and Second Floor, doors to separate WC and separate shower room. Door leading to storage room housing water tank.
First Floor
Bedroom 1
Double bedroom with large feature wooden window, carpet floor and door to the adjoining dressing room and main landing.
Bedroom 2
With feature wooden window, built in wardrobes and doorway to spiral staircase leading to both the ground floor and second floor.
Sitting Room / Reception Room 2
With dual aspect windows, an engineered wooden floor and wood burner.
Bathroom
With built in cupboard. tiled floor and half tiled walls with panel bath, low flush WC and wash hand basin unit
Second Floor
Bedroom 3
Double bedroom with carpet floor and skylight
Bathroom
Modern bathroom suit with panel bath with shower over, wash hand basin unit, toilet, towel rail and tiled floor.
Bedroom 4
Twin room with a carpet floor, window and skylight.
Attic Space
Externally the property benefits from a landscaped garden to the front with greenhouse, small pond, lawned area and decking area
Brook House Woods – Wood Cabins
Brook House Woods extends in total to 57.23 acres (23.16 hectares).
The holiday business was founded in 2017 by the current business owners and has been further developed into a thriving enterprise.
The lodges have been carefully designed and located to allow easy access whilst retaining their own private woodland setting with views over the surrounding Frome Valley and distant Malvern Hills
The site is off-grid with solar electric supply, wood burners, private drainage and private water supply.
http://www.brookhousewoods.com/
Journeyman Treehouse
Hand built in 2022 by The Woodcraft Project and Daniel Crunden, this exceptional round wood barn is secluded it its own area of woodland,
The Treehouse boasts four bedrooms (two king size bedrooms and two twin rooms), over two floors and two bathrooms upstairs.
The ground floor features a large open plan kitchen and dining room with pool table and projector. Externally the treehouse includes a fire pit, double outdoor roll top baths, rain shower and BBQ pizza oven.
The Whittlers Cabin
The Whittlers Cabin is a wood cabin providing a little bit of luxury deep in the woods. This sweet cabin features a king size bed, a wood burner and a seating area around a private fire pit. The cabin sleeps two people and has a private compost toilet, shower with a view of the woods and private kitchen.
The kitchen has a fridge, 2 gas hobs, and use of a BBQ & wood fired pizza oven shared with Goji.
Goji
Goji the Tree Tent is suspended between two ash and an oak in the mature blue bell wood at the top of Brook House Woods.
Goji has two single beds that fold up to make sofas during the day, a wood burner, desk and under bed storage.
The roof is entirely glass so one can lie in bed stargazing or head out to the deckchairs to breakfast overlooking the Malvern Hills.
Goji has a private compost toilet, shower with a view of the woods and private kitchen.
The kitchen has a fridge, 2 gas hobs and use of a BBQ & wood fired pizza oven shared with The Whitters Cabin.
Humboldt, Venn and Walden
Humboldt, Venn and Walden offer three separate one bedroom luxury round wood tree cabins. Each cabin includes a roll top veranda bath, indoor bathroom, kitchen, fridge and hand made king size bed.
Built by the legend Rudi Meseg, a roundwood timber framer who learnt his trade with Ben Law, builder of the nation’s favourite Grand Designs house, ‘Prickly Nut Cottage’, all the wood was locally grown and sourced, the cabin is insulated with sheep wool and powered by solar.
Nestled amongst the trees in an old woodland overlooking the Frome valley and on to the Malverns, Heated by a log burning stove and complete with a BBQ out on the veranda.
Oriana
A round wood building with indoor kitchen, indoor bathroom with shower, king size feather bed, roll top bath in the window with views out to the Malvern Hills.
Oriana is heated by a wood burning stove inside and has a private kitchen with an under-counter fridge and double gas hob. Outside there is fire pit and deck, pizza oven and BBQ.
Little Pomona Cidery
Little Pomona Ltd have been tenants on Brook House Farm since 2019.
A boutique cider producer, the company secured an RPA grant to build a modern steel portal framed building, securing planning consent to construct the building, including visitor facilities, achieving sign-off in July 2020 (planning reference 194663), and opening its Tasting Room 2020/21.
The building measures 4,843 sq ft/ 450m2, plus an outside skirt with French drains, and two concrete pads for fruit delivery and stock collection with accompanying roller shutter doors. Inside the majority of space is dedicated to cider production, with tasting room and visitor facilities (toilets with private septic tank, bar, retail shelves) comprising one-sixth of the space.
The Tasting Room overlooks the farm’s heritage orchard, with access via French doors. This is open to those visiting the Tasting Room as Little Pomona’s Cider Garden. There is a customer car park.
Between April and October, Little Pomona is open to the public on Saturdays and Thursday evening, also hosting tours once a fortnight, with group visits by arrangement.
Between October and March, Little Pomona is open as a bottle shop for 3 hours a week.
Further information is available via its website: https://littlepomona.com
Farm Buildings
1. Hop Building 42.9 x 35m (140’8″ x 114’9″)
Modern steel portal framed construction with roller shutter doors to front and to one side, concrete floor, blockwork walls with profile metal cladding sheets above.
2. Apple Clamp 21 x 19.5 (68’10” x 63’11”)
Modern steel portal framed building with high eaves, open fronted with concrete floor above part concrete walls to sides with profile cladding above.
3. Apple Clamp Lean-to 19.5 x 13 (63’11” x 42’7″) Modern steel portal framed lean-to with open sides and earth floor
4. Fertiliser Store 28m x 9m (91’10” x 29’6″)
Metal framed seven bay open fronted shed with concrete floor and enclosed on three sides. Corrugated roof
5. Workshop and Biomass Store 6.25 x 11.5 (20’6″ x 37’8″)
Part stone, part timber clad store with slate roof, housing the biomass boiler and workshop.
6. General Purpose Building 18.8 x 10.1 (61’8″ x 33’1″)
Open fronted three bay steel framed outbuilding with concrete floor and sheeted sides. Rear timber lean-to.
7. General Purpose Building 8.4 x 18.4 (27’6″
x 60’4″)
Timber framed four bay open fronted farm store with concrete floor.
8. Traditional Store 6.32 x 7.8 (20’8″ x 25’7″)
Part stone, part brick single storey store with tile roof and concrete floor.
9. Stalls 12.7 x 6 (41’7″ x 19’8″)
Traditional single storey painted concrete block stalls with concrete floor with three separate compartments with mangers.
10. General Store 12 x 6.15 (39’4″ x 20’2″)
Steel framed three bay open fronted building with part brick part concrete floor. Partition with plumbing for washing machines.
11. Garage 18m x 9.15 (59’0″ x 30’0″)
Double garage adjoining farmhouse with concrete floor, doors and two electric charging points.
Land
The farm extends in total to 307.23 acres (124.33 hectares) of which there is about 103.4 acres of Hop Yards, 59.6 acres of cider and traditional orchards and 4.31 acre vineyard and Quince orchard, 37.23 acres of arable land in three fields, 14.69 acres of permanent grassland, 79.95 acres of mixed woodland and the remainder being buildings, yard, river, tracks and gardens.
The land is classified as predominantly Grade 2 with some Grade 3.
Hop Yards
The Hop Yards were planted by the current owners in 2016/17. The Hop Yards include a mixture of Admiral, Cascade, Challenger, Chinook, Fuggles, Goldings, Pilgrim, Progress. A full variety breakdown can be provided upon request.
The hops are dormant this year, partial dismantlement has started in some of the Hop Yards and some may require some remedial work to the framework. The Hop Yards were previously in a traditional arable rotation and could be restored to arable if preferred by the incoming purchaser.
Cider Orchards
The Cider Orchards were planted around 2000. The Apple varieties are predominantly Michelin and Dabbinett and around 5% Harry Masters. The orchards are all planted in small blocks across the whole acreage except for the Harry Masters which is only within the more traditional orchard closest to the house.
The apple harvest last year was 777.5 tonnes, but the farm usually yields between 950-1,000 tonnes.
Vineyard
The 1 acre vineyard was planted in around 2008 and comprises Solaris & Seyval Blanc varieties. The Vendors have annually made and bottled the wine.
Arable Land
The arable land has been farmed in a traditional arable crops rotation. We understand the land has not recently grown potatoes and maize.
Grassland
The grassland is divided into conveniently sized paddocks located to the north and east of the farmhouse and down to the River Frome below.
Woodland
There is approximately 17 acres of Woodland classified as Ancient and Semi-Natural Woodland in the main Brook House Wood. The Woodland comprises a mix of mature oak, ash, cherry etc.
The newer coppice on the northern edge of the woodland contains mostly Western Red Cedar.
Land General
The topography and nature of the land may offer additional biodiversity and natural capital opportunities, and subsequently provide possible income generation and capital growth in future.
All of the land is located within a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone. Some land next to the river is within the flood plain of the River Frome.
Ownership
The Oast House shaded red on the plan is owned separately from the remainder of the farm. Interested parties must therefore apportion their bids accordingly.
Tenure
The Farmhouse, farm buildings and land will be available freehold with vacant possession upon completion. The Vendor reserves the right to harvest the apples this season (2023).
We understand that the owners of the Oast House, who manage the Brook House Woods holiday business, would be interested in retaining ownership of the Oast House if they are able to continue to rent the holiday accommodation and the surrounding woodland area to run as a business on a long-term lease.
Council Tax Bands and Rateable Value
Brook House Farm – Tax Band “G”
Oast House – Tax Band “E”
Little Pomona Cider House – Rateable Value £16,750
Energy Performance Certificate
Brook House Farm – EPC Exempt
The Oast House – Band D (Score 60)
Renewable Energy and Services
We understated the farm benefits from mains electricity and private drainage systems. There is a private water supply, further information below.
Brook House Farm benefits from fibre-to-the-home which is rated at 900 mbps. The farm 60KW wood pellet Windhager biomass boiler supplies heat to Brook House Farm, farm office and Oast House.
The Oast House benefits from underfloor heating from the biomass boiler with electric immersion heater separate.
The Airsource Heat Pump supplies the outdoor heated swimming pool. There is also a 10KW Solar PV array on the farm buildings.
The Hop Building, Fertiliser Store and Little Pomona benefit from three phase electricity supplies.
Please note the services are not tested.
Water
Brook House Farm has a Private borehole water supply. The farm currently supplies the adjoining Oast House, Cider Building and Holiday Lodge Business and four nearby properties on Avenbury Lane. The borehole is located near the river with the reservoir being in the grass field at the top of the orchard.
Timber, Woodland, Sporting and Mineral
Rights
We understand that all rights, as far as they are owned, are included within the freehold sale.
Felling Licence
Brook House Farm Felling Licence Application 015/1990/2022. Further detail available upon request.
Wayleaves, Easements and Rights of Way
The property is sold subject to and with the benefit of all easements, quasi easements, wayleaves and rights of way both declared and undeclared.
Inconsistency
In the event that there are any variance between these particulars and the contract of sale, then the latter shall apply.
Important Notice
These particulars are set out as a guide only. They are intended to give a fair description of the property but may not be relied upon as a statement or a representation of facts. These particulars are produced in good faith and are inevitably subjective and do not form part of any contract. No persons in the employment of Sunderlands 1862 LLP has any authority to make or give any representation or warranty whatsoever in relation to this property.
HEAD OFFICE: Offa House, St Peters Square, Hereford, Herefordshire, HR1 2PQ
Health and Safety
This is a fully working farm, all viewers are reminded that they should take all necessary care when making an inspection of the property. Viewings are taken solely at the risk of those who view and neither the agents nor owners of the property take any responsibility for any injury however caused.
Asbestos
The vendors and their agents accept no liability for any asbestos on the property. It is in the nature of farm buildings in particular that asbestos is likely to be present on the farm.
Fixtures and Fittings
The sale includes the holiday lodges/cabins structures only. All other fixtures, fittings and chattels, such as glamping fixtures and fittings, green houses, hot tubs, hop equipment etc, whether referred to or not are specifically excluded from the sale.
Viewings
All viewings are strictly by appointment with the vendor’s sole selling agent Sunderlands.
Katie Bufton
k.bufton@sunderlands.co.uk / 07741 664053
Peter Kirby
p.kirby@sunderlands.co.uk / 07967 817274
