What it is: It took the selling agent an hour to find the entrance to this hidden property set in 12 acres in the Peak District national park. The delapidated two-bed farmhouse, which is reached down a steep limestone track, comes with an adjoining piggery and barn which could, subject to obtaining planning permission, be converted to add another two bedrooms, resulting in a four-bed family home.
You can see only two properties from the front door of Brow Top Farm. It’s one and a half miles to the nearest village, Kettleshulme, with a couple of pubs; for longer-lasting sustenance you have to go half a mile further to Whaley Bridge, which has a new Tesco. The former farm goes to auction at Shrigley Hall Hotel Golf and Country Club, Pott Shrigley, near Macclesfield, this Thursday at 7pm.
The problems: If you are buying Brow Top Farm in the hope of living in a four-bedroom house then you’re taking a gamble. Although it is possible to begin renovation of the two-bed farmhouse, the new owner will need to gain planning permission from the national park to extend into the adjoining barns to gain the extra living space. If permission is granted, the new owner will need to spend at least £100,000 to convert the traditional 18th-century property. The project will include rewiring, replumbing, installing private drainage and oil-fired heating, before plastering, putting in the two extra bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen.
The advantages: Not just a blank canvas but an exceptional canvas, according to the selling agent. Brow Top farm is a rare opportunity to live in the Peak District national park. It is in the most popular and therefore pricey corner of the national park due to its proximity to the more salubrious suburbs of Cheshire and as such it carries a 20% premium. A nearby renovated five-bed farmhouse with more than 10 acres plus a converted barn recently went on the market for £950,000. The selling agent believes that, once renovated, Brow Top Farm should sell on for about £500,000 as a two-bedroom cottage and more than £700,000 as a four-bedroom house.
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Bridgfords, 01663 732 401, www.rightmove.co.uk