Row as National Trust pays almost £1m for Lakes farmland

Farmers and residents' in the stunning Borrowdale Valley said the Trust had broken up one of the most important farms in the Lake District.

The move has been branded a "disaster" for Herdwick sheep farming.

According to reports, the Trust is understood to have bid £950,000 to acquire the 316-acres at Thorneythwaite Farm. The guide price for the farmland was £750,000.

Amanda Carson, secretary of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders' Association, said the breaking up of the farm had created a void in the farming community.

She said there were a couple of local farmers who were hoping to bid for the farm so they could provide for the next generation of farmers.

"People at the sale were terribly upset," she said.

The farmers bidding for the land were said to have offered £500,000 maximum, but the Trust's bid is said to have "blown them out of the water".

Currently the farm is home to 413 hefted Herdwicks, but the shepherd has left.

After the sale the association took to Twitter, along with local farmers and residents, including James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District, and a Herdwick sheep farmer.

"Thorneythwaite Farm is no more thanks to the National Trust coming straight in with a bid of £950,000 for the fell land. They blocked local farmers of any chance of buying the farm as a whole. Another farm lost.

"Hopes that the farm could be taken on by a new young fell farmer have been dashed. Another blow to the community of Borrowdale. Shame on the National Trust," said the Association, who represents more than 200 Herdwick Sheep Breeders.

"The loss of the farm's bloodlines will reduce the genetic pool and threaten the diversity of the Herdwick breed. The future of these 413 Herdwicks is now uncertain."

James Rebanks, who farms at Matterdale, said on Twitter there were about 200 farmsteads which made up a 'unique, beautiful landscape of the district'.

"All really depend on each other. When keeping a breed of sheep every farmer matters. If you start to chip away, you make the whole thing less viable."

"The National Trust admitting that they bid an inflated price to stop it remaining as a whole traditional farm," said Mr Rebanks.

The National Trust said in a statement on its website that the auction was a 'once in a generation opportunity' to secure the land for the nation.

They said they were unable to buy the land and the farmhouse so it put in a high offer to prevent other buyers.

"The Trust used its charitable funds to bid for the land rather than the building. We did not have the funds to buy both lots, and prioritised the 300 acres of land. There was still an opportunity for someone to purchase both parcels together after we had bid for the land."

The Trust has yet to decide how it plans to manage the land, and will be developing more detailed plans over the coming months. "We will also explore how we may be able to use the farmland to slow the flow of the Upper River Derwent, thereby contributing to the prevention of flood downstream in communities such as Keswick and Cockermouth."

The Trust does not own the land until October 14. In the meantime, it said, the flock of sheep are still the responsibility of the local tenant. After that date they said they would talk to other agricultural tenants from Borrowdale about helping to manage them.

Last month the unnamed owners of Thorneythwaite Farm put it up for sale, after the tenant farmer moved.

The farm's buildings were up for auction in a separate lot to the land, including the flock of Herdwick's. There was also another option to purchase the farm buildings and land together if they reached a greater price than being sold separately.

The local farmers had hoped to buy the house and the land for about £1.4 million.

The buildings were initially sold to a couple from outside Cumbria for £850,000 - £50,000 above the guide price.

When the total plot was offered at a combined price of £1.8 million none of the farmers could afford it.