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Blencathra sold to 'unnamed party' | Blencathra sold to 'unnamed party' |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A mountain in the Lake District that was put up for sale earlier this year has been sold to an "unnamed party". | A mountain in the Lake District that was put up for sale earlier this year has been sold to an "unnamed party". |
But the community group Friends of Blencathra, which tried to buy the mountain, said it was in a position to match the winning bid. | |
H&H Land and Property, the agents handling the sale, said they accepted a bid higher than the community group's. | |
Group chair Debbie Cosgrove said she was "bemused" at the owner's decision. | |
The property agents confirmed the successful bidder had offered more than the £1.75m asking price. | |
Ms Cosgrove said the group was told about the higher offer earlier, but had made it clear it was prepared to match the bid. | |
'Significant shortfall' | |
She said: "What we said was that we would literally need to just look at what we would do, how we would do it and come back to them. | |
"Before we'd even had time to do it my phone started going, saying that the news had already gone out that we'd lost it, so we are absolutely bemused." | |
The mountain, also known as Saddleback, was put on sale in May by its owner Hugh Lowther, Earl of Lonsdale, to help settle an inheritance tax bill. | |
The Friends of Blencathra group was quickly established as a charity in an attempt to bring the mountain "into public ownership". | |
The group quickly achieved thousands of supporters and put in a bid in time for Wednesday's deadline. | |
But H&H Land and Property said there was a "significant shortfall" between the group's offer and that of the unnamed party. |
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