Turns out the rolling green hills of England aren’t exactly the quaint, small-scale farming utopia many of the media imagined. A new report reveals that just 2,500 landowners control a whopping 26% of the country’s farmland.
Who Owns the Countryside?
England’s farmland spans 22 million acres, spread across more than 100,000 farm holdings. But here’s the kicker: just 2,568 large farms own or manage 5.6 million acres of it. That’s over a quarter of the land in the hands of an elite club of landowners, many with titles that sound like they belong in a period drama.
Among these land barons are the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, who commands over 270,000 acres, and the Duke of Northumberland, Ralph Percy, who owns a tidy 132,000 acres. And let’s not forget Sir James Dyson—yes, the vacuum tycoon—who owns 35,000 acres through Dyson Farming.
Inheritance Tax: A Small Dent in Big Wallets?
Rachel Reeves’ inheritance tax plans on farmland have caused a stir, with fears it could hit 70,000 farms. But experts suggest the real impact will fall squarely on these mega landowners. Billionaire Sir James Dyson, for instance, isn’t thrilled about the taxman sniffing around his estate.
The Unequal Truth About Land Ownership
Guy Shrubsole, author of Who Owns England?, described the data as “staggering.” He explained:
“I’ve known for a long time that land ownership in England is very unequal. In my book, I concluded that 1% of the population owns half of England. I was wrong. These latest figures suggest it’s far, far less than that.”
Shrubsole lamented the romanticised image of small-scale farmers:
“Most of us want to believe that the countryside belongs to small-scale farmers – like my grandparents, who farmed in Cornwall. But most of this country is owned by people like the Duke of Westminster.”
Who Really Reaps the Fields?
So next time you stroll through the countryside, consider this: those picturesque farms might not belong to a hard-working local family but to a billionaire or a duke who probably hasn’t ploughed a field in their life. The English countryside, it seems, is more Downton Abbey than All Creatures Great and Small.
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