SOMERSET County Council has netted £1.35M from the sale of one of its county farms – and further sales are on the horizon.

The council announced its intention in May to sell off eight farms within its property portfolio, in order to raise £8M in capital funding for front-line services.

One of these farms, Oxenford Farm in Dowlish Wake, came to auction at the Shrubbery Hotel in Ilminster on Thursday afternoon (September 27), where it was sold off in separate lots.

Sue Osborne, who farmed there until earlier this year, said afterwards that the sale would not make a significant difference to the council’s financial position.

The former dairy farm – described by Greenslade Taylor Hunt as “conveniently positioned” – was sold off at the auction in five separate lots, with the total windfall for the council being £1.35M.

Of this, £250,000 came from the sale of the farmhouse itself, £530,000 from 35.6 acres at the north-western end, and £320,000 from 34.28 acres at the eastern end of the farm.

The council confirmed before the auction that it had retained 50 acres of the farm, which would come to market at a later date.

A spokesman said: “Further farms are expected to be vacated next year and existing tenants continue to express interest in purchasing although no sales agreed to date.”

The council currently has 20 farms which are let to tenants across the county.

Speaking after the auction, Mrs Osborne expressed her surprise that the land and buildings had been sold at so high a price.

She said: “To take one of the lots – £180,000 for 11 acres – that is pricing that way way above what land is tending to make at the moment. And half a million for a set of buildings which have very limited usage.

“From the point of views of the tenants [of other farms], I think it makes it a lot harder for tenants to value. I think it builds perhaps a false level of expectation into the market which won’t necessarily be replicated elsewhere.”

Mrs Osborne – who represents the Windwhistle ward on South Somerset District Council – said that she held out little hope that sales of this sale would help to address the county council’s financial issues.

This sale comes just over two weeks after the council’s cabinet passed proposals for more than 70 separate cuts in a bid to save £15M by 2020.

She said: “Frankly, it won’t really help at all when you look at the bigger picture.

“In a way, it’s not just selling off the family silver, it’s actually frittering it away – because what are they going to sell next year? There’s no guarantee there’s going to be another goldmine like Oxenford Farm sitting in the wings to rescue them.”

Mrs Osborne and her husband David managed to buy the cottage next to Oxenford in 2012, meaning that the sale has not left them homeless.

As she continues to build a new career, she expressed sadness at the fate of the farm and wished the new owners well.

She said: “There’s a certain degree of sadness in actually seeing what was a really lovely dairy holding, which we worked very hard to build up and which we eventually had to take apart.

“I wish all the purchasers the best of luck with their purchases, and I hope they’ll be as happy there as we have been.”