Cheering news comes from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) today, as the figures for the last quarter of 2004 show the market for farmland performing extremely well, with prices in 2004 rising by 25%, compared with just 7% in 2003, the largest increase since 1994. The 4th quarter of last year also saw an increase in farmers moving back into the market as the framework for subsidies in the future became clearer. Market conditions tend to be strongest for commercial farms showing a build up of interest from farmers encouraged by a higher income and a greater certainty over CAP reform, the Institute found. It also said that the share of purchases by lifestyle buyers, which did rise considerably last year, declined. They now account for 41% of the market, compared with a high of 51% last year. RICS Rural Spokesman, Julian Sayers, said: ?Despite the further decline of farmland availability, supply conditions are expected to improve as the implications of the Single Farm Payment are clarified. ?Both increased caution from non-farmer buyers and expectations for better availability in 2005 have led surveyors to believe that commercial and residential farmland property prices will flatten out over the coming year.?
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Rock stars and the country house: Liam Gallagher's life in the Cotswolds is in the finest tradition of music A-listers, from the Beatles to BeyoncéWhat is it about the British countryside that draws A-listers from every walk of life? With Liam Gallagher's Cotswold former home on the market, Toby Keel takes a look.
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‘Activities are of the derring-do variety, and the weather is unreliable year round, so it’s useful to be a good sport’: A memorable road trip to the tidal island in Scotland where J. M. Barrie liked to holidayThe opening of three new hotels in Scotland was all it took to convince Jo Rodgers to journey northwards on a road trip with her husband and three young children in tow.
