Stately home treasures to be sold

Easton Neston house is more than 300 years old

After failing to find anyone with £50m to buy his family estate, Lord Hesketh is to sell some of its art treasures.

The former Tory party treasurer put the 16th century Northamptonshire Easton Neston estate on the market last year to stop it draining the family fortune.

Dividing the estate, which includes Towcester racecourse and a village, into 57 lots last month failed to generate any concrete sales.

The auction of almost a quarter of the treasures could raise more than £5m.

About 1,500 pieces will be sold including fine English and French furniture, Old Masters and British paintings, tapestries and silver.

'Rare and beautiful objects'

Henry Wyndham, the chairman of Sotheby's Europe, said: "The collection of works of art at Easton Neston is one of the most significant to have been put together by a British family over the last 500 years.

"The house is full of rare and beautiful objects that reflect the changing tastes and fortunes of nearly 20 generations of the Fermor-Hesketh family."

The Grade I listed stately home, set in more than 3,300 acres, has been the family seat of the Fermor-Hesketh family for 470 years.

With annual losses at Easton Neston estimated at more than £1m a year, Lord Hesketh felt he had to sell to safeguard his family's financial future. He has three children, Flora, 23, Sophia,19, and Fred, 16.

The agents handling the sale of the estate said last month they were negotiating with a number of interested buyers but no deal had been agreed.

The Sotheby's sale will be held at Easton Neston for three days from 17 May.