ONE of the area's most picturesque country estates is looking for a buyer with £4.2m to spend.

The 485-acre Halesend estate lies on the Worcestershire-Herefordshire border at Storridge, near Cradley, three miles north-west of Malvern.

It's based around a Grade II Listed white painted Georgian house, which stands on a hillside with stunning views across a valley within the estate.

Included in the sale is the Lordship of the Manor of Cradley, plus a five-bedroom listed farmhouse, four more houses, some farm buildings, a woodland, pasture and arable land, a trout stream and a high pheasant shoot.

"It makes a superb residential estate and is one of the most important sales of its type in recent years," said Tim Gaston, of Humberts, joint agents with FPDSavills.

"Prospective purchasers would have the option of buying the estate as a whole or we could split it into eight lots.

"The core of the estate, which comprises the main house, gardens and grounds plus 415 acres of surrounding land, has a guide price in excess of £2m."

The remaining seven lots include Little Halesend farmhouse and its paddocks, four cottages, farm buildings and 51 acres of farmland.

For many years, The Halesend estate has been owned by the Higgins family.

The late Bernard Higgins was managing director of the world famous engineering firm Meco (Mining Engineering Co Ltd) based in Bromyard Road, Worcester, which later became part of the Dowty Meco Group based at Tewkesbury.