Wonderlands

The sale of almost 10,000 acres of Northumberland leads the market this week

- Penny Churchill

THE Percy family’s ownership of land in Northumberland began with the purchase, by Lord Henry Percy, of the Barony of Alnwick and Alnwick Castle from the Crown in November 1309. Other lands soon followed, including the Baronies of Warkworth and Rothbury and the manors of Newburn and Corbridge, which were granted to Henry Percy, second Lord of Alnwick, by Edward III, on the death without male issue of their previous owner, John Clavering, in 1332.

Even before the purchase of Alnwick Castle and Barony, the Percy family already owned substantial land interests and was listed in Domesday as owning 118 manors in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Essex and Hampshire. Today, the Percy family portfolio of some 100,000 acres of farming, forestry and tourism interests throughout Northumberland and the Scottish Borders is managed by Alnwick-based Northumberland Estates, a privately-owned, multi-faceted organisation that, in recent years, has diversified into the commercial sector, investing in office, retail and industrial property throughout the North-East.

Although buying, selling and developing land is nothing new for Northumberland Estates, the farms and estates sector will be transfixed by the launch onto the market through Knight Frank (020–7629 8171) of the historic, 9,486-acre Rothbury estate on behalf of Lord Max Percy, the Duke of Northumberland’s youngest son, who is now based full time in the South of England. Located near the market town of Rothbury, on the edge of the Northumberland National Park, 14 miles northwest of Morpeth and 26 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne, the gloriously scenic mixed farming and sporting estate, which forms part of the Ancient Forest of Rothbury, is for sale for the first time in more than 650 years, at a guide price of £35 million for the whole.