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New Statesman
2 days ago
- Business
- New Statesman
Britain's farmers will take Starmer down with them
Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP The cows step forward gingerly at first, padding out from their tunnel and looking around expectantly. Once they emerge, the auctioneer spits out numbers. The farmers watching from the concrete amphitheatre above are impassive. They bid with such subtle nods that I struggle to tell who had bought which animal. But they are well-used to it all. The farmers of Thame have been doing this since the 12th century. Then, the livestock were traded on the high street of this handsome Oxford town. The market, owned by a cooperative of local farmers, was built in 1951. This culture has survived nearly 1000 years but may not, if you speak to the people here, survive another ten. Market and meteorological pressures have long made farming difficult. The market itself has only narrowly survived bids to buy its increasingly valuable land and turn it into a supermarket. But now, farmers are angry about a hostile government and political elite that they feel are deliberately accelerating the end of their profession, for the sake of political capital. One Buckinghamshire farming leader told me Keir Starmer would be brave to show his face in any rural pub in Britain. Watching the auction is John Mayer. He is 85 years old and the movement of his legs is severely restricted. He reached his seat in the amphitheatre's third row only by leaning forward at an impossible angle and swinging his body up, step by step. He is thankful he has a son to take over his farm. As creamy white Charolais cows mooed past through the pen, John tells me wistfully about a childhood spent on his father's tenant farm. As soon as they were able, he and his brother began hedge cutting in order to save up to buy their own land. Now, they have 930 acres. John has travelled to Australia, Sweden and America to research handling setups. He grows wildflowers, lets his hedges sprout and has never shot a badger. But, Mayer says, he would not encourage a young person to go into agriculture now. Farms cannot survive financially. 'There are good people who've been in farming for generations. We're losing those sort of people,' he says. 'If my farm came up for sale, people from the City would buy it to avoid tax.' According to the estate agents Strutt & Parker, more than half the English farmland sold in 2023 was bought by non-farmers. Last autumn, the government announced plans to raise money from such purchases by reducing inheritance tax relief on agricultural property. But farmers were apoplectic. Generally, the value of their land has risen with no corresponding rise in their incomes, which remain low. Without the relief, they could not afford their death duties, so would be unable to pass their farms to their children. Some reportedly confronted Keir Starmer about this at a pub near Chequers, just a 20-minute drive from the market. At the margins of the auction, farmers gather in a whitewashed room with a roof of corrugated iron to exchange gossip and talk shop. Discussing the state of the industry, they share a litany of woes. 'We're getting extremes of weather,' says Bill Walding, who raises cattle and sheep near Luton. 'One year we've got a soaking wet February where everything's under water. And the next year, we've got a very dry February and it's a very wet May.' While high beef prices had been a rare bright spot, they are now slumping again, he says. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Approaching 60 and preparing for Labour's inheritance tax changes, Walding ought to be thinking of estate planning. Older landowners he knows are terrified. 'It's literally a death sentence to some of them. You can either live or you can give your farm to your family.' Beneath the political rage is a deep, existential fear. Farmers see the way they live their lives, and the way their ancestors lived their lives, slipping away. And they have little hope that their traditions will be preserved for their future generations. They believe they are hated by the political class and misunderstood by the metropole. Farms are being consolidated in the countryside, while new build developments push in from the suburbs. 'They're being squeezed from both directions,' the cattle market's auctioneer, Simon Draper, told me. Thanks to higher costs in southern England, Mayer and Walding say, it is impossible to make a living on anything less than 600 acres of land anywhere south of Leicester. 'In the Farmers Weekly five years ago you would have seen farms up to 100 acres up for sale,' says John. 'They're all gone now and the farms which are coming up for sale now are the 200-300 acre farms, which are non-profitable to farm. That is the next scenario we're coming into – the little farms are gone. They cannot earn money.' Walding has built himself a way out, but one it would hurt him to use. Over the past 25 years he has quadrupled the size of his yard and prepared it for conversion into an industrial estate. 'I do not want to be the man to do it but that is the fallback position for the family,' he says glumly. As I stand up to leave, he tells me he thinks the recovery of British farming can survive but it will require the public to go hungry. Only then will they realise its importance. At a farm of a very different scale, at a smallholding on the edge of Exmoor, Baroness Mallalieu is trying to sell some sheep. The Labour peer has lived on in the area for 25 years. She says the inheritance tax changes have imposed an economic stasis. 'They're not investing in their businesses because why should they if it's going to be taken from them,' she says as we sit underneath a vast painting of the death of Nelson in a House of Lords lobby. 'They're not taking on more people. The damp that's been put on growth, it's the exact opposite of what's wanted.' Mallalieu, the president of the Countryside Alliance for the last 26 years and a lifelong Labour supporter, is well-placed to understand the gulf opening between Starmer and rural voters. She believes Labour politicians have been led astray by their urban milieu and a belief that all farmers are class enemies. 'I'm just met everywhere by people saying to me, and the same phrase has come up a number of times, 'why do they hate us?' And that is the picture they've got from what's happened. It's not just on inheritance tax, it's a whole range of things.' Still, the baroness remains convinced that many in the countryside are natural supporters of her party. 'They're people who should be Labour voters because they're people with very little money, very low income, a portfolio of little jobs like cleaning holiday cottages or agricultural work or mucking out horses.' She sees a similarity between this moment and the furious protests against Tony Blair's move to ban fox hunting. class enemies. Mallalieu recently heard Steve Reed, the secretary of state for Defra, telling the party's rural MPs to inform their constituents to expect the government to follow through on a manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting. 'I think they've gone into a bunker now on the countryside,' she says. 'I think they're just saying, 'Keep the defences up and carry on.' They've got so many other problems.' With 59 of its 100 most marginal constituencies in rural or semi-rural areas, the government can ill afford a revolt. In the run up to May's local elections, though, the man who helps with Mallalieu's sheep told her he was raring to get out and vote Reform. She has seen rural Conservative party members defect to Farage en masse. 'I think it's anything but the other two, it's not because they're particularly embracing Reform,' she says. 'They think they can see the country's in trouble and they think the opportunities they had are not going to be there for their children and they're not going to have the same standard of living that we have.' When I approach a group of elderly farmers at the cattle auction to ask who they support, they reply one by one: 'Reform!' They express a familiar litany of complaints: the government is stealing from people who have worked all their life; asylum seekers are handed free television licenses; Starmer is really a communist. Largely former Conservatives or non-voters, they are keen to stick it to the political class at the next election. 'The Tories are useless, Labour are worse, the Lib Dems are just a bunch of crap,' says one. 'If I were 50 years younger I'd emigrate,' adds another. Standing outside in Hunter gear and summer dresses, one young family looks as if they have stepped from the pages of Country Living. 'Most of the world hates rural life,' says Ian Sweetman, a gunmaker from a farming background. 'People only see the bad, they don't take the time to see the good.' Dismayed by the lack of respect shown to field sports and agriculture online, he and his wife have developed an app to connect ruralites online. The modern world, its website complains, 'pushes country life into the corner and dubs it as outdated and unpopular'. Across rural Britain, this perceived disregard is metastasising into fury. For Labour's plans for economic growth to succeed, something else must give. Nuclear power stations, housing estates and solar panel farms will have to go somewhere. For many in the countryside, there is a sense their world is being sacrificed to bail out SW1. Whether farmers can build a broader coalition remains unclear, however. Starmer must hope they do not spark a conflagration. But there is no doubt that unless the government changes its approach to rural constituencies, the tractors will be back in Whitehall. [See also: A day out with Jeremy Corbyn's new party] Related
New York Post
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Incredible medieval home visited by legendary kings is for sale — but there's a catch
A jaw-dropping medieval property is on the real estate market in England, offering a pastoral life to interested buyers – but there's a catch. The property, called St. John's Jerusalem, was originally used by a group of warrior monks called the Knights Hospitallers. Advertisement It's located in the historic village of Sutton-at-Hone in Kent. The house dates back to the 12th century, according to real estate agency Strutt & Parker. It functioned as a preceptory, or a local headquarters and monastery for the knights, who fought in the Crusades. 'Dating from 1199 and set in moated gardens with a lodge cottage and former deer park, this historic house is privately set in a wonderful and very private and protected setting,' the listing reads. Advertisement The main house was remodeled in the Georgian era, still retaining some medieval charm. It boasts eight bedrooms, a high-ceilinged drawing room and a modernized kitchen. 8 St. John's Jerusalem, originally used by a group of warrior monks and dates back to the 12th century, is up for sale with unique stipulations. Strutt & Parker 8 According to the listing, the property is 'set in moated gardens with a lodge cottage and former deer park.' Strutt & Parker Advertisement The listing calls the main building a 'wonderfully atmospheric home of exceptional quality,' featuring a 13th-century chapel at its east end. 'The house is approached by a long carriage driveway, which meanders through the former deer park, beginning beside the two-bedroom lodge cottage … and ending at a generous turning circle with a central lawn in front of the house,' the listing says. 'This is a rare chance to acquire the opportunity to live in and care for this house.' The whole package is being sold in the range of £3,250,000 – equal to over $4.4 million U.S. dollars. Advertisement The catch? 8 The house has a modernized kitchen. Strutt & Parker 8 The main house was remodeled in the Georgian era, but still has some medieval charm. Strutt & Parker 8 A bathroom in the house. Strutt & Parker The property is not being sold outright — and plans call for it to be handed back to the National Trust in less than a century. The lease ends on Sept. 29, 2122. Edward Church, the real estate agent for the property, told Fox News Digital that listings like St. John's Jerusalem are rare. 'These are among the most special houses as they are in the custodianship of this body that protects houses of national importance,' Church said. Advertisement 'This is a rare chance to acquire the opportunity to live in and care for this house.' 8 Among the spaces at St. John's Jerusalem is a high-ceilinged drawing room. Strutt & Parker The agent also noted it's possible to extend the lease in the future. 8 One of the eight bedrooms on the property. Strutt & Parker Advertisement Church added, 'The lease is a necessary item and is something that really only exists in very rare circumstances.' Though the lease might dull the appeal of the listing for some, whoever purchases the property will be walking in the steps of kings. The 24-acre property was also regularly frequented by legendary medieval leaders, including King John and Henry III, with the earliest-recorded visit in 1214. 8 The plans for the house call for it to be given back to the National Trust by Sept. 29, 2122. Strutt & Parker Advertisement 'Subsequently, the lease of the buildings and lands was given to a series of important royal favorites with London connections such as John de Pulteney, who built Penshurst Place and Thomas Cromwell,' the listing notes. 'The Order's lands in England, Sutton-at-Hone included, were confiscated and sold off by Henry VIII in 1540.' The property also boasts a garden 'like no other,' complemented by an idyllic moat of a chalk stream and English yews, per Strutt & Parker. Advertisement The current owners 'have respected the history of the site (and the extensive archaeology beneath), including a garden of medicinal plants that complements the history of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, who established the original preceptory on the site,' the listing adds. 'An orchard (reflecting that established by naturalist Abraham Hill in 1670, who was responsible for introducing the Kentish Pippin apple to Kent) and a nuttery are found to the south of the house.'
The Herald Scotland
6 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
'Picturesque' Scottish estate with walled gardens for sale
Strutt and Parker is marketing Pluscarden Estate near Elgin which it described as an 'exceptional mixed-use estate'. It covers 1,365 acres and is offered for sale as a whole or in six lots. The agent said: 'The estate includes around 775 acres of arable and pastureland, as well as 545 acres of predominantly coniferous woodland, offering both immediate and long-term timber income potential. 'The main house, completed in 2008, sits in an elevated position and has been designed in a traditional style, with generous proportions and modern finishes throughout.' The estate includes arable land. (Image: Strutt & Parker) The agent also said: 'The gardens themselves are a highlight - mature, colourful and thoughtfully laid out, with sweeping lawns, established borders and a sheltered walled garden that hints at the property's more ornamental past.' The estate includes a second house - a traditional four-bedroom property known as Woodside - as well as a further cottage, a bothy and a range of traditional and modern outbuildings. It also includes a general-purpose agricultural building, workshops, garaging and traditional barns that could suit a range of future uses. The gardens are 'a highlight'. (Image: Strutt & Parker) The agent said: 'Pluscarden's location is part of its appeal: tucked into a quiet corner of Moray but just a short drive from Elgin's amenities, the sandy beaches of the Moray Firth, and the Speyside whisky trail'. Inverness is around 45 miles west, while Aberdeen lies 70 miles to the east, which the agent said puts the estate within reach of airports, mainline rail connections and the A96 corridor. Euan MacCrimmon, of Strutt and Parker in Inverness, said: 'Pluscarden Estate is an exceptional mixed-use estate - it's got the balance right. The combination of mature woodland, well-managed commercial forestry and prime farmland gives it strong fundamentals, while the principal house and gardens offer that lifestyle appeal. It's rare to find something of this scale, diversity and accessibility in this part of Scotland.' The estate is being marketed at offers over £6.5 million. Scottish law firm defies 'global headwinds' An Edinburgh-based legal giant has signalled an increasing appetite for deal-making across key sectors in Scotland as it booked a 15th consecutive year of growth. Stephen Goldie, managing partner of Brodies, offered an upbeat assessment of the corporate outlook following a tumultuous first half of the year defined by macroeconomic and geopolitical upheaval. The firm, which employs nearly 900 people across offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and London, highlighted the 'resilience and ambition' of its clients amid the domestic and global headwinds as it reported an 11% rise in turnover to £126.7 million for the year ended April 30. The rise in turnover, which was driven by growth across all of the firm's core practice areas – banking and finance, corporate and commercial, dispute resolution and risk, personal and family, and real estate – helped lift operating profit above £50m from £49.2m the previous year. Profit per equity partner was recorded at £885,296. Scottish 'centre of excellence' sold to French giant A French group specialising in testing, inspection and certification has acquired a second business in Scotland in the latest of a series of "strategic investments" to strengthen its building safety and compliance services.
The Herald Scotland
17-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish estate steeped in clan history put up for sale
Armadale Castle Estate on the Isle of Skye is centred around the dramatic ruins of a 19th century Gothic mansion. It is being marketed for sale by Strutt & Parker at offers over £2.76 million as a whole, or in seven lots. Robert McCulloch, Strutt & Parker's head of estate and farm agency in Scotland, said: "Armadale is a place of rare character and heritage. "It has the grandeur: the ruined turrets, the ancient trees, the views that stretch across the Sound of Sleat - but is also one of the Isle of Skye's most established and internationally recognised tourist attraction and associated businesses." The estate from above. (Image: Strutt & Parker) The castle, which forms the centrepiece of the estate, is the historic seat of the Macdonalds of Sleat, "one of the largest and most powerful of the Highland clans historically". The first recorded reference to a house at Armadale is from 1690, when the Royal Navy shelled the site to bring the Jacobite Sir Donald Macdonald of Sleat to heel. A new mansion was constructed in the 1790s, with a grand Tudor-Gothic wing added in 1815 by James Gillespie Graham. Today, the estate is operated by a charitable trust as a well-established visitor destination, welcoming thousands of visitors each year. It includes a purpose-built visitor centre, which houses the Museum of the Isles, together with the former stable block which includes a pair of self-contained apartments, café/restaurant which can be used as 'well-appointed venue for functions and events, and associated offices and utilitarian space'. The agent said: 'This is complemented by Armadale Gardens, which extends to around 40 acres of formal Victorian planting with specimen trees and rare conifers laid out across terraces and wooded walks. 'The wider estate includes Armadale House, a secluded period five-bedroom family-sized home and former head gardener's house; the converted Stables used for accommodation and hospitality; and Forester's Cottage, tucked among the trees, and six self-catering cabins with spectacular sea views. 'The land itself totals approximately 359 acres combining mixed species woodland and enclosed pasture on a gently sloping ground with a southeasterly aspect and magnificent views." The agent added "In addition to Armadale Castle Estate, the adjoining South Sleat Estate – extending to over 19,000 acres and also owned by the Clan Donald Lands Trust is for sale at offers over £6.75m. A further cottage with development land is available for sale as an addition to Armadale Castle or South Sleat estates. The availability for sale of these estates offers purchasers of wide range and varying budget a fantastic opportunity to own either a small or a large part of the famous Isle of Skye, and contribute positively to the future of the region's land and community." Separately, Community Land Scotland earlier called for further consultation over the sale. Scottish business which worked on Liverpool's Anfield eyes growth One of Scotland's largest structural steel fabricators, which has worked on projects including the redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street railway station and Liverpool FC's Anfield stadium, is gearing up for major expansion as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. J&D Pierce Contracts, based at Glengarnock in Ayrshire and 80%-owned by Swedish investment group Storskogen, expects annual turnover to rise towards £200 million as it capitalises on 'growth in key sectors including data centres, distribution hubs, distilleries, stadia and arenas, transport infrastructure, and the social and supply chain requirements related to renewable energy'. Accounts filed with Companies House last July show the turnover of J&D Pierce Contracts was £103.8 million in the year to December 31, 2023. In recent years, J&D Pierce has supplied structural steel for high-profile construction projects across the UK, including at the Formula One racetrack at Silverstone as well as Anfield. It has also worked on the redevelopment of Edinburgh Haymarket and Dundee railway stations, as well as on the Queen Street project. Family sells renowned landmark hotel after 30 years A large-scale landmark hotel and 'cherished destination' has been sold.
Press and Journal
14-06-2025
- Business
- Press and Journal
Stylish modern house in historic village of Braemar hits the market
A sleek and modern house within the charming village of Braemar has hit the market. Roy Cottage is located on Kindrochit Drive in the Aberdeenshire village, which has deep links to royalty thanks to the nearby Balmoral Castle. Braemar is a historic settlement but Roy Cottage is a newly built house designed to be net zero. The house's excellent energy-efficiency is one of the highlights of the house along with its peaceful location and mountain views. Roy Cottage is currently listed with Strutt & Parker for £795,000. Inside the house, you immediately enter the open plan living room, kitchen and dining room. This spacious room has a double-height vaulted ceiling and galleried landing above. The sitting area has a woodburning stove and double-height arched windows, while French doors open out onto the patio area. From the sitting room you can marvel at views west towards Ben Macdui. The kitchen features sleek fitted units with plenty of storage, a breakfast bar and integrated appliances. Opposite the kitchen is the guest toilet and useful utility room for further home storage and appliances. Also on the ground floor is the third bedroom/family room with outdoor access via sliding doors. There is also an office space for at-home working. The first floor has two bedrooms, including the master bedroom, which has its own ensuite shower room and balcony overlooking the back garden. In addition, there is a family shower room and large storage room on this floor. The upstairs galleried landing has space for seating, offering elevated views out over the surrounding mountains. Roy Cottage was built to be a net zero house with low running costs and has achieved a rare Band A EPC rating. The house has 16 solar panels and a GivEnergy storage battery, with the electric underfloor heating running off the solar panels and an air source heat pump. Roy Cottage sits within a peaceful residential area, fenced in by woodland. At the front of the house there is a gravel parking area with space for two vehicles and access to the timber-framed shed, which could be used as a garage. The front gardens have a lawn and a patio seating area for alfresco dining. The back gardens are partially landscaped and include a further patio and gravel terracing. Braemar is a popular destination for tourists due to its proximity to Balmoral Castle and the annual Braemar Gathering.
