Ever dreamed of becoming a Lord? Well, for $12.6m, now you can

After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s recent charm offensive Down Under, there’s every chance you’ve grown a little fonder of the Royals in recent weeks.

Perhaps you even harbour your own ambitions of marrying into the House of Windsor. Of course, that’s highly unlikely. But, for just over $12.6m, you can do the next best thing: The Crown Estate, which manages the royal property portfolio on behalf of the Treasury, is selling Britain’s last remaining feudal village, and the title Lord of the Manor of Laxton will be passed on to the successful bidder.

The feudal estate comes with its own pub, the Dovecote Inn.

Dating back to 1066, the Nottinghamshire village spans over 746 hectares and includes a pub, a visitor centre, 10 cottages and 17 working farms, which form what’s widely considered to be Europe’s last remaining “open field” strip farming system and produce in excess of $414,000 per year, according to the estate agent’s listing.

“The Estate tenants operate ‘in common’, using a three year crop rotation including winter wheat, a second cereal and fallow over three open fields across the Estate,” the listing explains.

Laxton Court Leet, an ancient manorial court, administers the open field system, ensuring tenants comply with the rotation policy and keep within their strip boundaries. It meets at the village’s Dovecote Inn on the first Thursday of December, imposing fines of up to $36 on farmers, for straying on to a neighbour’s strip of land, or leaving rubbish in the field.

Spanning over 746 hectares, the village dates back to 1066. 

A spokesperson from The Crown Estate told The Guardian that the purchase of the estate was conditional upon the purchaser demonstrating a clear intention to maintain the pre-existing, open field strip farming system.

“A capacity in both organisational and financial respects to positively manage the estate in the long term must be shown, and the purchaser should ideally be able to demonstrate a track record of having successfully delivered sensitive management of the historic landscape and farmed environment at a comparable scale and complexity,” the spokesperson added.

It just might be your best chance of landing a Lordship.