19 April 2013, A rare opportunity to acquire an historic agricultural & sporting estate in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales has arisen with the coming to market of the Agglethorpe Estate near Middleham, in Coverdale.

The Manor of Agglethorpe is first documented in the Domesday Book around 1086 and the estate has been in private ownership since the early 1900’s after it was purchased by Sir Frank Brown and was subsequently passed to his relatives the Rettie family.

More recently, the estate was the former holiday bolt hole of noted foreign correspondent the late John Rettie who for nearly half a century wrote for the Guardian and Reuters, as well as broadcasting for the BBC World Service. The estate is now being sold by his son James, also a national journalist, who currently still lives at the Estate.

Comprising 500 acres of land rising up to Middleham High Moor, the Estate includes 60 acres of woodland with shooting and fishing rights and comes complete with three secure agricultural tenancies, all with farmhouses including the 17th Century Grade II Listed Agglethorpe Hall which once formed the centre of the estate.

The estate generates a current rental income of £24,000 with rent reviews initiated for April 2014.  Sporting rights are included with the sale and have been actively pursued by the Rettie family working in partnership with the tenants.

An additional property, which includes a small area of woodland and stone barns which are currently used as a shoot room & store, is available by separate negotiation.

Tom Whitehead of Carter Jonas’ Harrogate office who is handling the sale comments “the Agglethorpe Estate offers a varied and manageable traditional rural estate in a particularly sought-after location where very little land has historically been sold and there are varied sporting and investment opportunities throughout the property”

The estate is being offered with a guide price of £1.75m and will be publically launched from Friday 3rd May.