Estate agents dealing with the sale of an entire English village say they have been inundated with inquiries despite the STG20 million ($A37.11 million) price tag.
West Heslerton, North Yorkshire, has been put up for sale - including its 21-bedroom mansion, 43 houses, a pub, a range of other buildings and more than 809.37 hectares (2000 acres) of farmland.
The village has been owned by the same family for generations but a decision has finally been taken to sell following the death of Eve Dawnay, the last owner, five years ago, at the age of 84.
Dawnay's benevolent management of West Heslerton has meant very little has changed among the rented cottages for 50 years.
Tom Watson, director of Cundalls, the estate agents handling the sale, explained that a sale was the best option given that Dawnay had no single heir.
He said that the family would like sell to someone who shared her philosophy towards the people of the village. But, he stressed, it would be an open sale available to all potential buyers.
"We've had an incredible amount of interest already," Mr Watson said.
"My phone's been ringing off the hook. We've had about 50 requests for details already."
Watson said: "It would be perfect for somebody wanting to build up and leave a legacy. The estate has been very much untouched in the past 50 years and is now a blank canvas, ready to be shaped for the next generation.
"Of course, there can be no denying that the estate is also going to be very attractive to developers and investors as, in many respects, time has stood still in West Heslerton.
"There are now endless possibilities - be it to convert buildings, develop possible plots and commercial opportunities - but I know that in an ideal world Miss Dawnay's family would really like to see the estate carry on in a similar vein."
Dawnay inherited the estate in 1964. It had been in her family for 150 years.
But she moved out of West Heslerton Hall 30 years ago and it has not been lived in since.
The hall is the centrepiece of the STG20 million offer which also includes Dawnay's purpose-built four-bedroom home and even the village petrol station and more than 40ha of woodland.
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