Stunning outlook for buyer

The eight-acre site at Coverack on the Lizard has sea views and planning consent for a four-bedroom house.

The price does not include the cost of building a home, but estate agent Andrew Harvey said it was still a good deal.

He said: "I think you have to consider what the house will be worth when it is built, and I am fairly confident that someone could get about �1.5m.

"It'll cost about �600,000 to build, which leaves about �900,000 for site purchase, so there's still some meat on the bone, some profit for a buyer."

Somebody phoned up yesterday and asked if they could land their helicopter here Architect Barry Briscoe

The former pig farm was owned by Terence Coventry, who said he and his family had found it increasingly hard to sustain the business.

He said: "The pig farm needed a lot of renovation.

"It was 40 years and old and because most pig farmers now have to subscribe to the quality assurance scheme, it's very difficult keeping the buildings up to scratch.

"They keep introducing new legislation and my two sons decided that after years of throwing money at the job, it was no longer viable."

All the old farm buildings have now been taken down and photographs of the site have been put on the internet.

Architect Barry Briscoe says there has already been a great deal of interest.

He said: "Somebody phoned up yesterday and asked if they could land their helicopter here."

Affordable housing

The site is being sold as the average price of housing races ahead of the means of the county's traditional low-wage earners.

Some areas of Cornwall have seen house price rises of more than 100% over the last two years, as the demand for holiday homes continues.

Mr Harvey said: "It was never a site for first time buyers or affordable housing.

"We have got to provide affordable housing and we have got to provide more.

"But the planning authorities or the government has got to open the valve to make more land available and make the whole planning process less complicated.

"But you must continue also to build bigger houses, for the people who can afford them and have big families."