North estate on verge of being sold

Nov 22 2007 By Graeme King, The Journal

THE historic and lucrative estate of Witton Castle in County Durham is on the verge of being sold by the trustees of Lord Lambton’s estate in a deal worth over £12.5m.

The 338-acre estate operates as a holiday and caravan park as well as being a popular fishing location, standing close to the village of Witton-le-Wear, just off the A68 trunk road.

The buyer of the estate has not yet been revealed, but it is known several of the UK’s big holiday park operators were bidding for the property.

Witton Castle, which is nearly 600 years old, has been owned by the Lambton family for more than 40 years but has never been the family home.

The estate features 475 caravan pitches, with 238 sited there permanently, some further residential accommodation and 20 acres of stocked fishing lakes.

The castle itself, which is grade II listed, is the key focal point of the estate and contains bars, function rooms, kitchens and games rooms.

The estate has been marketed by specialist caravan park agent Edwards and Partners from North Yorkshire and Grays Chartered Surveyors from Hamsterley, near Bishop Auckland.

Paul Edwards, senior partner at Edwards & Partners, said: “The property is being sold by the trustees of the castle – the trustees of the Lambton Estate – Lord Durham’s estate.

“They decided this was part of his empire that they could dispose of.

“The market at the moment is very strong – the strongest I have known in 30 years. But to fully benefit from its commercial potential, the park needed a commercial operator.”

Mr Edwards said his firm had recently gained permission to take the number of caravan pitches up from 317 to 475, and this has helped to improve the estate’s value.

He said all the bidders for the estate were specialist caravan park operators with large portfolios of similar properties.

He said: “The estate is currently subject to an agreed sale at quite a considerable figure, and there is an exclusivity agreement in place.

“We had seven interested parties in the first five days – and two flew in by helicopter. They are all people who are already in the industry.”

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Chequered history of Witton Castle

UNLIKE many of the historic castles of Northumbria, Witton has never been the ancestral home of any one family for very long, or at least not since the 17th Century. The Eure family had the longest tenure having acquired the land in the 14th Century. During the Civil War, Sir William D’Arcy became the Royalist owner and the castle fell to Sir Arthur Hazelrigg, Governor of Auckland Castle, on behalf of the government.

In 1689 the original castle was virtually demolished but was rebuilt in the early 1700s, though it was gutted by fire in December 1796.

In 1851 the estate was purchased by the Chaytor family, who greatly improved both the castle and grounds and are largely responsible for the buildings that exist today.

The Chaytors held the castle and estate until the sale to the Lambton trustees in 1963.

Lord Lambton did not buy the castle as a home as he already had two houses in Durham – Lambton Castle at Chester-le-Street and Biddick Hall.

Lord Lambton, a former Conservative MP for Berwick and under secretary of state for defence, was the son of the late 5th Earl of Durham.