Even if you have the money, opportunities to buy a good sporting estate are few and far between, says Jonny Beardsall in The Sunday Telegraph. But this autumn, three "impressive" Scottish estates - Cluanie and Glenquoich and its neighbour, Sheil, on the west coast of Scotland, and Shurrery to the east in Caithness - are all up for sale.
There are, in fact, quite a few on the market this year, says Mark Nicholson in the Financial Times, and this is partly as a result of the Scottish Land Reform Act, which is coming into force next year. The legislation will give the public wider access to the land, communities the right to buy land in their area, and crofters the right to buy land on their farms. This means that big estates, which are effectively vacant possession' (ie without crafting communities or tenant farms), are suddenly commanding premiums of "anywhere up to 40%", because they will remain unaffected by the new laws. The remaining estates, with "newly enfranchised" farmers or crofters, may increasingly achieve "only their break-up' value".
The 20,455-acre Cluanie and Glenquoich Estate and the neighbouring 14,422-acre Shiel Estate, which are being sold by Strutt & Parker (0131-226 2500), are both of the "vacant-possession variety". The former, with an 11-bedroom "picture-book gabled lodge" set in pine forest overlooking Loch Cluanie, is "pretty much the archetypal estate, with fishing in two lochs and some of the best deer-stalking in Britain" (there is an average of 32 stags and 61 hinds). For the asking price of £1.1m, you also get two cottages and 1,555 acres of forestry, adds Beardsall, while £1.6m will buy you its neighbour, Shiel, which has a lodge, a house and two cottages, as well as 40 stags and 83 hinds per year, and salmon and sea-trout fishing on six-and-a-half miles of the River Shiel. According to Anna Thomas of FPDSavills (0131-247 3720), which is selling the 14,000-acre Shurrery Estate, a short drive from Wick airport in Caithness, large acreages such as these could prove a worthwhile investment as they are becoming scarce. But in terms of sport, buyers should buy them to enjoy themselves and not expect to make money by letting out the stalking or fishing at these sort of levels. The Shurrery Estate, like the other two, is "croft-free" and comprises a comfortable ten-bedroom lodge above Loch Shurrery, has an average of 22 stags and 40-60 hinds, as well as a grouse moor, informal pheasant and partridge shooting and trout streams.
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If you're after something a bit smaller, you could always buy a slice of what's on offer when sporting estates are broken up into lots - and this is likely to become an increasingly common sight, thanks to the new legislation - says Nicholson. Strutt & Parker has just started advertising the Gannochy Estate, half an hour's drive from Dundee, which has been divided into 42 lots, including detached rural houses for between £150,000 and £230,000, and pheasant and partridge drives.
If you'd like an estate further south and have £3m to spare, the spectacular1,748-acre Eskdale Estate in the Lake District might interest you. There's an18-hole golf course and, says Julian Lambton of Carter Jonas, "plenty of untapped income" from the three-and-a-half miles of salmon and sea-trout fishing, and the pheasant and the deer stalking. There is no big house; rather two cottages
