Council farms up for grabs

Today at noon is the deadline for applications to rent Lower Farm at High Bickington, one of the few farm tenancies offered by Devon County Council.

More than 50 people viewed the 85-acre holding last month with an eye to putting their feet on the farming ladder.

Council farms, with their affordable rents and encouraging terms, are a rare and much sought after means to go into agriculture.

Lower Farm is one of two currently available, the other is East Fingle, Drewsteignton, near Dartmoor.

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Most of the formal applications were expected to come in during the last few days for both holdings, described by the county council as mixed agricultural (Lower Farm) and mixed livestock (East Fingle).

The High Bickington farm includes a three-bedroom house, is mainly down to pasture, and currently holds cattle free of bovine TB and is in a 12-monthly testing parish.

Applications were invited for a seven-year tenancy.

Chairman of the council's farms estate committee Jeremy, Yabsley said the farms had attracted many different people.

There was no specific criteria for applicants except that they had to be "bright, with it, and know where they want to go in farming".