End of an Era at Eastbury Farm
October 2025
Wednesday 17th September represented an end of an era as Eric and Lucy Parker dispersed their machinery at Eastbury Farm, Carhampton, lying on the outskirts of Minehead. Auctioneers Greenslade Taylor Hunt were delighted to be favoured with instructions to act once again for the Parkers, having previously sold their dairy cattle herd, having had strong links with them for many years.
The sale was attended by a huge number of locals as well as many travelling from across the West Country to the sale, in addition to which online bidders were very active on Marteye, the online bidding portal, which saw a tractor heading to Wales and a batch grain dryer sold to Poland! Leading prices for the main vendor included £26,000 for the 2011 Case Puma 155, £14,500 for a high-houred Case MX 135, £11,700 and for a Valtra 6400 showing over 18,000 hours on the clock. The machinery lines were keenly contested, selling to £6,200 for a McConnel Batwing Topper and £6,000 for a HiSpec 2300 Slurry Tanker. A huge run of cattle and sheep equipment was sold also, comprising hundreds of lots, sold to a bumper crowd of purchasers with too many prices to mention!
In addition to support from buyers travelling to the sale, neighbours also took advantage of the on-farm auction, entering a number of good quality items which met with a great deal of interest. Prices of note included £30,000 being achieved by the John Deere combine, purchased by a Somerset farmer, £14,800 for a 2008 JCB Loadall and £11,800 for a McConnel PA 5565 Hedge Trimmer.
Auctioneer Tom Mellor commented ‘It has been a delight to work with Eric and Lucy over previous weeks, culminating in the sale. The popularity of our vendors was evident when so many attended to support them, both with their presence but equally with their bids and purchases! The sale epitomised what an on-farm sale should be, with circa 600 lots being sold over the course of about 4 hours, with a fantastic clearance rate and excellent feedback from all that attended – a pat on the back to the vendors for their hard work in pulling the sale together and the GTH sales team for processing it’.
If you have surplus items of equipment to sell, whether that be a single item or a whole dispersal sale, please do not hesitate to contact our specialist team on 01278 410250 who would be happy to assist, navigating the pros and cons of on-farm or on-site sales as well as online timed sales too.