Cancer Research UK has received a legacy of £1.117m following the sale of a 105-acre farm in Axminster last month.

The farm was sold via Symonds & Sampson on 28 March by executors for the property, well exceeding its guide price of £925,000. The property was sold in four lots with the first lot, comprising a period farmhouse, traditional barn and 55 acres of land gleaning £662,000. A CRUK representative was present at the auction.

The property was put to market following the death of 90-year-old Wilfred Chedd in April last year. His family had occupied the estate for generations as tenants before buying the farm in 1950. Wilfred was the last member of the Chedd family to farm the land and has no surviving family. 

Caroline Kent, director of legacies at Cancer Research UK said: “We are incredibly grateful for Mr Chedd’s generous legacy to Cancer Research UK in his will. The money that has been generated by the sale of this property will be put towards the charity’s pioneering research. At present, the funds have not been allocated to a particular project.

“We have not been made aware of the reason that Mr Chedd, who had no immediate family remaining, had chosen to leave his estate to our charity. Gifts left in wills are extremely important to Cancer Research UK, with more than a third of our research funded in this way. It is thanks to people like the Chedd family that we are able to continue our life-saving work." 

The South West Farmer publication called the property "a slice of farming history" advising the property had remained largely unchanged for half a century.