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News Release

Two properties make over £1.2m at auction

Stags held their recent collective auction at the Devon Hotel, Matford and Simon Cooper, partner at Stags and auctioneer on the day, was delighted to deal with the sale of two fine country properties. Both of which sold extremely well under the hammer.
The first property on offer was West Ford Farm which was a traditional Dartmoor farm near Drewsteignton which had a Grade II Listed house for renovation (with a corrugated iron roof!), a large range of buildings and about 35 acres which was offered for sale on behalf of Devon County Council as it was surplus to their requirements.
Bidding started at £400,000 and bids quickly rose in £10,000 increments up to £610,000 where they then dropped to £5,000 increments and finally at £1,000 bids with the property being knocked down for the excellent sum of £626,000 to buyers from Kent. Indeed they had only been to see the property that morning!
The second property on offer was The Retreat at Oldborough that was being offered on behalf of an owner from Germany who only a few months ago had won it in a competition held by the previous owner. The lucky owner had won it for the price of a £25 ticket! This was an 1980's house with 11 acres of woodland and former quarry which are now two lakes along with four holiday chalets.
Once again bidding started quite low at £450,000 but quickly rose up through the £500,000 barrier with it finally being keenly contested between two buyers. The hammer finally fell at £592,000 with the buyer coming from London.
Simon Cooper was delighted with the result for both his clients. He was also pleased to note the large number of potential bidders who were in the room, many of whom he knew did not end up bidding due to the speed at which the bidding rose.
Certainly Stags have a number of underbidders looking for these types of property and the market is very good this autumn. Do not hesitate to contact Simon (01392 255202) if you would like to discuss auctioning your property.

Forthcoming Auction

1. Tuesday 16 March at The George Hotel, Crewkerne commencing at 3pm

Further entries invited

Please contact James Green on 01935 475000 if you have a property, building plot or land lot which you would like entered

£10,000 success for cancer research UK

1. A new event took place on Sunday 4 October on Exmoor

The amount raised was in excess of £10,000 which was more than double the amount that the organisers had expected. Hosted by John Simpson and Nicky Martin at Great Bradley Lakes, Withypool, the concept was created by Debbie Zurick who is herself currently receiving treatment for cancer.

Debbie and Nicky put together a pig roast and pimms party by the lakes in the afternoon where friends, guests and the public could try fly-fishing on the lake. Tuition was also available at some clay pigeon traps that were set up in an adjoining field. Debbie and Nicky were ably supported by family and friends, all prepared to give their time to this inaugural event to raise money for such a worthwhile cause.
The main fund raiser for the event was an auction of 60 lots, all very kindly donated to the cause which was held in the marquee overlooking the lakes as dusk fell. Over 150 people crammed into the tent as James Green of Stags extracted enthusiastic bidding for fishing, sporting prints, a flight in a helicopter and even a box of sex toys! The highlights of the auction were the pheasant shooting that was on offer at both Great Bradley and North Molton. The star lot however was the jar of pickled onions, which made £200 and a further £100 was raised from that jar when each pickled onion was sold after auction for £5!
Debbie and Nicky are extremely grateful to all those people who have helped in a myriad of ways for the event and for everybody who donated items for the auction. They hope to hold an even bigger and better event perhaps next year.
If you would like to make further donations please contact www.donatetobreastcancer.org/debbiezurick