There was standing room only at auctioneers Halls’ new headquarters and salerooms at Battlefield, Shrewsbury for the successful auction, which saw a country cottage, Yew Tree Cottage, Ellerdine Heath, near Telford, sell for £313,000, way above its guide price.

More than 60 people viewed Yew Tree Cottage, a three bedroomed property set in around 1.34 acres of gardens and pasture paddocks, in the run up to the auction and bidding soon raced away from its guide price of £190,000 to £200,000. The buyer exercised an option to purchase an additional 3.4 acres of land for £35,000.

“The cottage is in a totally private location equidistant to Shrewsbury and Telford, so ideal for commuting,” said auctioneer Allen Gittins, a director of Halls. “It had been used as a holiday let and had a paddock to the front and rear. The cottage had room to extend, so had great potential for making into a serious country house.”

Croxton Cottage, Hanmer, near Whitchurch, a detached, two bedroomed country cottage also requiring renovation and modernisation in an unspoilt rural setting with 3.7 acres of pastureland, sold for £217,000, again well above its guide price.

A rare and interesting development opportunity, comprising a barn with planning permission for two dwellings, two additional building plots and adjacent paddocks at Ightfield, near Whitchurch, sold for £240,000, within the guide price.

The barn has planning consent for conversion in to three and two bedroomed homes, while the building plots are for four and three bedroomed properties. The development occupies a two-acre site.

Three blocks of Shropshire pastureland and woodland sold well, achieving up to nearly £9,000 an acre. An 8.55-acre block of grazing land situated just outside the village of All Stretton, near Church Stretton sold for £76,000, a productive and versatile nine-acre block of grassland at Middleton, near Oswestry sold for £76,000 and a 2.5-acre block of amenity deciduous woodland near Worthenbury, Wrexham, made £22,000.

The sale of The Clawdd, Selattyn, near Oswestry, which had a guide price of up to £120,000, was agreed prior to the auction.

“The results again show that, even in an unpredictable market, the auction is still a really good way to sell property reasonably quickly and with certainty,” said auctioneer Allen Gittins, a director of Halls.

“Croxton Cottage and Yew Tree did much better at auction than if they were sold by private treaty. The types of property that do particularly well at auction seem to be detached, rural, with a bit of land and in need of renovation.

“In my experience, the poorer condition the property is in, the better. Buyers tend to hope to buy these properties to do up to their own exact specifications and tastes.”