WARD and Chowen's second public auction of the year again attracted significant interest, with the Portrait Room at the Bedford Hotel, Tavistock, packed for the three lots offered for sale.

At the beginning of the year retiring farmers instructed Ward and Chowen to sell by auction various blocks of agricultural land in the Tavistock area.

From a selling point of view, what appealed most to the auctioneers, was the lot comprising a small 2.4-acre field at Hill Bridge, Wapsworthy.

This was a pretty setting along the River Tavy with fishing rights.

Interest was from far and wide with people as far away as Exmouth being in attendance.

One interested party who gave a commissioned bid was a schoolteacher from Bournemouth. Not only did he want his 'piece of England' but was looking for land that he could bring his pupils to on activity weeks on Dartmoor.

The clients decided to retain a block of land on the Launceston road for a later date and a 24-acre block near Lydford was sold prior to the auction date.

The main block of land at Coffins, Hill Bridge, comprised 45 acres of typical moorland ground with common grazing rights.

Two local farmers bid keenly with the hammer falling at £305,000, equating to £6,700 per acre.

The 2.4-acre field had various bidders selling to a local person for £27,000.

The third lot at South Brentor did not sell, though was agreed later that afternoon to local farmers.