LIFESTYLE buyers have snapped up 55 per cent of farmland sold by property specialists Strutt & Parker during the first half of 2006, a trend which is increasing year-on-year,

They are buying the land for their own use and often to add to privacy to a country home. The land is not necessarily lost to farming as much is rented back to neighbouring farmers.

Only 35 per cent of the farmland sold by the firm this year has been bought by farmers. As much as five per cent has been acquired by conservation bodies, equalling the acreage bought for equestrian use.

Jasper Fielding, of the firm's estate and farm agency department, said: "On the back of a healthy economy, lifestyle purchasers continue to drive the market for land, They come from a wide range of working backgrounds, many who have sold businesses or have earned substantial bonuses have put the English countryside high on their personal shopping lists."

The average price for an acre of arable land was £3,0214 and £2,880 for pasture land.