Exmoor National Park considering selling land to pay for repairs at Driver Farm

The organisation hopes to raise up to £550,000 from seven parcels of land. Credit: Calvert Trust Exmoor

Exmoor National Park Authority is considering selling land to help fund repairs at one of its biggest estates.

The organisation hopes to raise up to £550,000 from seven parcels of land to contribute towards renovating a house at Driver Farm and other works.

The farm, one of the original farmsteads and completed in 1847, was sold to the Fortescue Estate in 1879 and later became part of the Emmett’s Grange estate before being bought by Somerset County Council.

One of the sites selected for sale is East Anstey Common, a 56-hectare piece of moorland that could be used for grazing or common land. It has a prospective buyer.

At least one prospective buyer has been identified for one of the sites that could be sold.

Ben Barrett, Exmoor National Park Authority's (ENPA) head of finance and operations, said the authority had selected land and properties for sale that had suitable protections – such as a Site of Special Scientific Interest so that very little could be changed from its existing purpose.

“Driver Farm is one of our biggest estates, right in the heart of moorland and connected to an outdoor education centre,” Mr Barrett said.

“It had been tenanted, but the tenant family said they wanted to relinquish it, so ENPA members and officers discussed what to do with the farm, and decided, rather than securing a new tenant, that we would try to access various schemes to help support the site.”

The ENPA has secured a £140,000 grant from the Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme, and may also use £50,000 from its reserves.

Mr Barrett said that ENPA is rare among national parks as it owns seven per cent of the land within the park boundary, which is a relatively high figure compared with its peers.