We're being thrown out of our home of 16 years which we lovingly restored at Christmas as our landlord wants to sell it

A COUPLE face being made homeless at Christmas as their landlord wants to sell the home they've lived in for 16 years.

Barbara Smathers and Les Harvey have been hit with an eviction notice fromDiglake Farm in Bignall End, Staffordshire.

Barbara, 57, told Stoke-on-Trent Live they have lovingly restored the four-bedroom property, but couldn't afford to buy it as it's on an "much larger estate, worth millions".

They have now been slapped with a "no fault"  eviction notice after winning a 2019 battle to remain.

Barbara said: “We’ve put what we had into fixing it. It was utterly derelict – there wasn’t a roof, you looked up and there was daylight.

"It's your entire life, your place of safety, and then to be told to go and find somewhere else and have funds to pay moving costs and deposits.

"It is like a trap door opening. I am sick with worry."

She added: “I’m in this position because I have rented an unusual property. Long-term rental is a problem.

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"Who can live six months to six months?”

Barbara is a rare-breed stud farmer and looks after 17 of the 150 Caspian horses in the UK on the land.

She added: “We’re literally racing extinction. These particular horses were thought to be extinct for 1,700 years."

Diglake Farm is described as being set in 259 acres of "rolling grassland", and 31 acres of "mixed woodland".

It is like a trap door opening. I am sick with worry

A sales brochure says it includes a four-bedroom farmhouse and
range of traditional buildings.

Under an Agricultural Occupancy Condition, the farm's occupants must be employed or last employed in agriculture.

The sales literature states: "The dwelling is set within a good-sized plot with lawned gardens, a number of small paddocks and the traditional buildings within close proximity.

"Internally the property comprises a central hallway, two reception rooms, a kitchen with utility and wc off and four double bedrooms complete with a family bathroom at the first floor."


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