Farmers and residents' in the Borrowdale Valley, near Keswick, are furious after a charity bought land at a large hill farm in the Lake District.
According to reports, the National Trust is understood to have bid £950,000 to acquire 316-acres at Thorneythwaite Farm. The guide price for the farmland was £750,000.
Local farmers were hoping to win the bid for the farmhouse and land in a bid to keep it as a working farm. Currently the farm is home to 413 hefted Herdwicks, but the shepherd has left.
James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District, who is a Herdwick sheep farmer, said on his Twitter account 'Herdwick Shepherd': "Hopes that the farm could be taken on by a new young fell farmer have now been dashed."
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 put in a high offer to prevent other buyers.
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