An entire village, complete with a cricket club, a blacksmiths and a manor house is to go on sale next week for up to £25 million.
Whoever buys Linkenholt, near Andover in Hampshire, will land its 22 houses, the village shop, a commercial shoot, 1,500 acres of prime farm land and 450 acres of woodland.
The village is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is to be sold by the Herbert and Peter Blagrave Charitable Trust.
The only thing that does not belong to the charity and so is not for sale is the 12th-century St Peter’s Church.
The trust has held a meeting with villagers, outlining its plans.
David Cath, who acted as chairman of the Linkenholt public meeting, said there was concern over the sale and that locals wanted the village to remain as “pleasant and harmonious†as it is now. “Villagers enjoy living in a beautiful part of the world in a settled way and they want it to stay like that,†he said.
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This may come as a surprise to some, but much of the English countryside and major cities, particularly London, is still owned by either the Crown or a distant descendant of some long-dead robber baron and only ever offered for sale freehold in unusual circumstances.
