Couple buy auction property 100 yards from their home

WHEN David Harrop and Camille Van Hoegaerden move to their new home, they won’t have far to lug their belongings - the couple have bought a barn for conversion just 100 yards from the cottage they currently call home.

Charlcutt Barn near Calne was one of the highlights of an auction in Cirencester on Thursday (March 30) where nearly £1 million worth of property was sold in under 30 minutes by auctioneer Roy Bowyer of Moore Allen & Innocent.

Builder David and Camille, who will project manage the conversion of the modern agricultural structure into their dream home, won a round of competitive bidding to secure Charlcutt Barn for £144,000 – £19,000 more than the guide price.

Their nerves held – not least because it’s not the first property they’ve bought at auction. Last year they successfully bid for a three storey Victorian terrace house in Westbury, Wiltshire which they’ve converted for rent.

Charlcutt Barn, though, will be their home. “We saw it come up for auction and thought what a great place it would be for a home,” said David. “It’s got great views.”

Their next job is to secure those great views by negotiating the purchase of the five acres of land in which the barn is situated.

The barn was sold with planning consent to convert into a two-bedroom dwelling. It sits in a third of an acre, with an entire surrounding field available by separate negotiation.

Elsewhere at the action, a detached bungalow just off Cirencester’s London Road - close enough to walk into town, but far enough away from the road to offer a degree of tranquility, and in need of modernisation – attracted a great deal of interest.

Bidding started at £250,000 and passed the auction guide of £270,000. The gavel was about to fall at £288,000 when a new bidder entered the contest, and the selling price was finally pushed to £314,000.

With a gross internal floor area of just over 1,000 square feet of flexible accommodation, the two-bedroom bungalow also has a detached garage and plenty of off-road parking.

There was also plenty of interest in Laburnum Cottage at Uckington, near Cheltenham, which offered ready-to-move-in accommodation sitting in a third of an acre of land with fields on two sides.

The three-bedroom detached house came with old buildings, gardens, and parking, and sold for £235,000 – £10,000 over the auction guide.

Finally, a 0.21 acre site at the edge of Stanton St Quintin came with outline planning consent for a single dwelling.

With Junction 17 of the M4 just over a mile away, the completed property will prove tempting to commuters. With professional developers bidding hard to outdo each other, the gavel finally came down at £224,000 – £29,000 above the auction guide.

In total, £917,000 worth of property was sold during the auction, and properties are already lined up for the summer auction on Tuesday, May 23.

For more information about buying and selling properties at auction visit mooreallen.co.uk or call 01285 648100.