The whole of West Heslerton – with 2,000 acres of land, houses, a pub and a 21-bedroom historic hall – is up for sale

From childhood, Eve Dawnay loved to build miniature models. So when her father bequeathed her a real-life village, it must have been a little girl’s dream come true.

The 2,000-acre North Yorkshire village of West Heslerton has been owned by the Dawnay family for more than 150 years. From its pub, garage, playing fields and sports pavilion, to a 21-bedroom historic hall and 43 houses, Eve Dawnay left a remarkable legacy when she died in 2010, aged 84: a functioning English village, with a population of around 375, preserved in time.

Until now. Because for £20m, a buyer can purchase the perfectly preserved, quintessential Yorkshire village, where “time has stood still”, according to the estate agent Cundalls, which is handling the sale.

With no single heir, the village was left to Eve’s wider family and they have now decided to sell, hoping to find a wealthy yet benevolent buyer. However, residents fear the sale will trigger the end of their bucolic way of life.

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Eve graduated from Oxford University with a BA in French in 1948 and worked in Paris and London before returning to the village. When her father died in 1964, she inherited the estate.

The unmarried eccentric owned the whole of West Heslerton, near Malton, keeping rents low and, with some clever social engineering, she ensured it retained a vibrant community supporting a host of amenities, including a primary school and its own football, cricket and bowling teams.

Bernard Cole, chairman of Heslerton parish council, said: “The Dawnay family have always been very philanthropic and Eve Dawnay was particularly kind.



“Obviously for the tenants, some of whom are farmers, the sale is of considerable concern. They have been under the same patronage for so many years that they will be wondering what changes will be made by the new owners.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest West Heslerton, near Malton. Photograph: LNP/REX/Shutterstock

“There has not been any consultation with the residents about the sale as far as I am aware. However, it hasn’t come as a surprise – it is something which has been expected, but there is concern about the rents and plans of the new owners. We would of course like it to remain as it is.”



The centrepiece of the estate is the 21-bedroom West Heslerton Hall which has been empty for 30 years after Eve Dawnay downsized to a four-bedroom house in the village.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest West Heslerton hall. Photograph: LNP/REX/Shutterstock

The lot also includes 43 houses and cottages, a pub with a restaurant, a petrol station with a garage and a playing field and sports field with a pavilion. There is also more than 2,000 acres of agricultural land, including 112 acres of woodland.

The annual rental and agricultural subsidy income is currently around £388,000 and the estate agents behind the sale are billing it as a money-making opportunity.



“Miss Dawnay was a wonderful lady,” said Tom Watson, a director of Cundalls.



Watson told the Yorkshire Post: “She was very kind and the property rents are, and have always been, very low. This has helped keep a village community with a mixed group of ages and there are obviously a lot of people hoping that somebody with a similar benevolent nature will come along to take over the estate.



“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.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest The sale includes 2,000 acres of agricultural land. Photograph: LNP/REX/Shutterstock

Watson is expecting a huge amount of interest from developers and investors. “In many respects time has stood still in West Heslerton. There are now endless possibilities to convert buildings, develop plots and explore 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’s younger sister, Verena Elliott, who lived at West Heslerton Hall until she left for London at the age of 18, said changing times had led the family to put the village up for sale.



She admitted it is “not the prettiest of villages” but said it had been loved by generations of her family. “It wouldn’t go on the front of a chocolate box, but my great grandfather, grandfather and father loved it. We all loved it and it would be very hard to find a village with more loyal and lovely people living in it. There is a real sense of community, which is hard to find these days. There are generations of families who have lived in the estate houses. In fact, there was a time when nobody ever seemed to move away.

“I can’t say strongly enough what the village and the people who have lived there meant to my family. The loyalty of those villagers has been tremendous. It will be strange to return and not be able to just wander around like I always have; that it will belong to somebody else. But times have changed, especially when it comes to farming, and it will be lovely to see new life breathed into the estate.”

