Scenes of joy as newlyweds buy dream cottage at auction

THERE were scenes of joy to lift the hearts of everyone at a property auction in the Cotswolds this week, when a newly-married couple snapped up their dream home.

Charanya Crome threw her arms around husband Andy as the hammer fell on Cottars Barn in Lechlade at £465,000 – a shade over the £450,000 guide price.

Although private buyers are welcomed at Moore Allen & Innocent’s property auctions, the sales tend to be the preserve of developers and speculators looking for land to build on or a property to renovate and resell, for whom every purchase is strictly a business transaction.

But Cottars Barn was one of those rare auction lots – a delightful property ready for habitation.

The show of affection and excitement from the buyers raised a smile from auctioneer Roy Bowyer, and even the vendors, Alan and Jacky Russell, were seen to give them the thumbs up.

For their £465,000 Charanya and Andy - workmates who were married just two months ago – have bought what is described as “a charming converted Cotswold stone barn with sizeable outbuilding and pretty gardens extending to 0.22 acres.”

The main property has three bedrooms, with the outbuilding giving the scope for a further two. Planning permission for conversion has already been granted.

Elsewhere in the auction, a semi-detached house in Royal Wootton Bassett listed as “in need of modernisation” sold for the auction guide price of £150,000. The two-bed property has a sitting room, kitchen / diner and garden room on the ground floor, and a detached garage to the side and rear of the property.

A circa 1980s detached bungalow which “requires updating”, situated within walking distance of Kemble railway station, offering direct access to London in 70 minutes had, said Roy, “attracted a lot of interest” and sold for £236,000 against an auction guide of £200,000.

And there was even more interest in a small plot of land at Kent End, Ashton Keynes, with nine bidders hoping to snap up the 0.044 acres for close to the guide price of £22,500. In the end, some very competitive bidding saw the sale price soar to nearly double that, with the gavel falling at £40,500.

Following the auction, offers were made on The Bungalow at Kemble Road, Crudwell, listed as a “substandard construction set in grounds extending to 0.53 acres” with “great potential for development” which carried an auction guide of £215,000, and a 1.1 acre development site at Bagendon with planning consent for the erection of two large detached houses, each of 3,590 sq ft, for which the auction guide was £650,000.

The next Moore Allen & Innocent property auction will be held on Thursday, July 20.

For full details visit mooreallen.co.uk