CIRENCESTER firm Moore Allen & Innocent is celebrating Super September, which saw the land and estate agents and antiques auctioneers host five major events.

The icing on the cake was the launch, on Thursday, September 29, of Bibury Court Estate, which at £17.5 million is the most expensive property the firm has ever been invited to sell.

The new owners will get a six bedroom country house with spiral staircase, wine cellar and billiard room, built in 1986 in a period style for the current owners by Quinlan Terry, the architect employed by Margaret Thatcher to redesign 10 Downing Street.

A Grade II-listed, four bedroom Mill House, which dates from the mid- to late 17th century, an 18th century dovecote, and a courtyard with garages and stables also come as part of the price tag.

The properties are set in a 762 acre estate, which benefit from 1.4 miles of trout fishing on the River Coln, a renowned pheasant and partridge shoot, and even the village cricket ground – although the property is sold with the proviso that locals are allowed to keep batting and bowling there.

There are also 521 acres of arable farmland and associated farm buildings. Moore Allen & Innocent has managed the estate for the current owners for 35 years.

Meanwhile, more modest properties were sold by the firm at a property auction on September 29, which saw excellent results across the board.

1 Cliffwell Cottages, a three bedroom semi-detached period property at Edge, near Painswick, was sold for £195,000 against a guide price of £175,000, while 83 Cheltenham Road in Cirencester sold for £190,000 – £5,000 above the auction guide.

A single building plot at Northleach sold for £80,000 – double the auction guide price – while a parcel of amenity land at Queen Street, Cirencester attracted a winning bid of £73,000 – well in excess of the £60,000 guide price.

But the surprise of the day came when the gavel fell on a 0.17 acre parcel of land to the rear of 77-79 Cheltenham Road, Cirencester. With an auction guide of £30,000, competitive bidding saw the sale total rise to £81,000.

On Saturday, September 24, staff entertained clients at the 68th annual Fairford, Faringdon, Filkins and Burford Ploughing Championships and Country Show at Donkeywell Farm, Quenington.

Thousands of people enjoyed competitive displays of horse-drawn and tractor ploughing, along with parades of steam engines and shire horses in blazing September sunshine.

On Wednesday, September 21 experts from the agricultural department auctioned farming machinery and equestrian equipment at Crown Farm at Ascott-under-Wychwood.

The firm was asked to disperse of the contents of the business following the decision of the owners to retire after 44 years. The farm had been in the same family since 1934.

In recent years, the farm has become famous in the equestrian world for its British Eventing approved cross country course, and the sale included not only farm machinery but equestrian equipment too.

Among the 600 lots were a Claas Tucano combine harvester, which sold for £72,000, a Massey Ferguson 6480 tractor at £36,000, and a JCB telescopic forklift at £32,700.

And on Friday, September 2, £60,000 of various sporting lots were bought and sold at the firm’s Sporting Sale, held at its Norcote saleroom just outside Cirencester.

The highest bid of the day – £2,000 – was for a Holland & Holland 12 bore side-by-side shotgun, while a Perazzi 12 bore over-and-under shotgun attracted the third highest bid of the day at £1,500.

For more information about the services offered by Moore Allen & Innocent, log on to mooreallen.co.uk