Castle bought for £2000 in the 1950s now going for £1.75m (well, it does come …

Posted on by Listify Me

By
Daily Mail Reporter


PUBLISHED:

01:15 GMT, 21 April 2012

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UPDATED:

01:15 GMT, 21 April 2012

A country estate bought for £2,000 in the 1950s has been put on the market for £1.75million, complete with the ruins of a 14th century castle, a pub and a hamlet of 70 homes.

Blenkinsopp Home Park Estate in Northumberland has been home to the Simpson family since 1955.

There is planning permission in place for a holiday park, and current owner Mike Simpson hopes that the next owner will breathe new life into the 22-acre estate.

An historic 14th Century castle and estate bought by the Simpson family for just £2,000 in 1955 has now been put on the market for £1.75m

Blenkinsopp Home Park Estate in Northumberland comes with its own hamlet of 70 homes, a popular local pub, a Grade II listed house and the ruins of the castle

Mr Simpson, whose father Charles bought the estate after Blenkinsopp Castle burnt down in 1953, is retiring. He said: ‘It will be unbelievably hard to leave. I have fantastic memories and it’s a beautiful place to live.’

The estate has been put up for sale in two lots. The first contains the hamlet, while the other is made up of the ruins of Blenkinsopp Castle and a three-bedroom grade II listed house.

Mr Simpson, whose family have owned Blenkinsopp Home Park Estate since 1955, is retiring alongside his wife Lee.

He said: ‘It’s a place that’s very dear to my heart.

‘It’s time to fetch the shutters down.

‘It has been a very, very lucky place to live, it’s always been a very happy place and we’ve always had good health.

‘There are 70 residential families that live on the estate and we’re all linked in like a family so I will miss them the most.’

The estate has been put up for sale in two lots, the first contains the hamlet of 70 homes that live at Blenkinsopp permanently.

The first lot also includes a license for 74 residential caravans plus planning permission for 11 holiday homes, it is on the market for £1.3 million.

Lot two, priced at £450,000, consists of the ruins of Blenkinsopp castle itself and a three-bedroom Grade II listed house.

14TH Century castle: Bought for £2K; on sale for £1.75M

It also includes the currently unoccupied Blenkinsopp Castle Inn which boasts a ballroom built 36 years ago by Mr Simpson and his family.

Mr Simpson’s father, Charles, bought the estate in 1955 for £2,000 after the castle itself burnt down in 1953.

The Park Home Estate was built in 1959 when a friend of Mr Simpson suggested he open a caravan park for the workers at the nearby RAF Spadeadam.

Mr Simpson said: ‘I have fantastic memories of living here and it’s a beautiful place to live.

‘I can sit here in my living room in front of the fire and look out onto the rhododendrons that previous owner Violet Lorraine planted in 1936.

‘It’s an amazing sight.’

The estate has been put up for sale by Morpeth-based Strutt and Parker.

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