Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Village For Sale. Bring Your Own Church

Have you ever wanted to be part of the landed gentry? Now's your chance. An entire English village, complete with 22 homes, a blacksmith shop and two cricket pitches, is being sold on the open market. Bids start at £23 million.
Linkenholt, a postcard pretty hamlet about 120 kilometres west of central London is currently owned by the Herbert and Peter Blagrave Charitable Trust, which underwrites charities working with children, the elderly and injured jockeys. (Peter Blagrave was big in racing circles.) Given the turmoil in the financial and high-end real-estate markets, the trust thinks this a good time to sell.
Included in the sale are 1,5000 acres of farmland, 450 wooded acres, a game shoot stocked with pheasant and partridge, assorted thatched cottages, a grand manor house and clock tower. Excluded, beyond the usual appliances and garden furniture, is the 12th century St. Peter's Church.
Residents are nervous that their quiet and harmonious way of life could be put in jeopardy if some vulgar rich oligarch comes swanning in. My money's on Madonna.
This is not the first time the village is being sold. It last traded hands in 1965 and fetched £540,000. Not a bad return on investment!

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