Furniture and carvings, as well as porcelain are all up for sale

More than 500 artworks and household objects from the Myddelton family's collection at Chirk Castle were auctioned by Christie's.

The property, owned by the Myddelton famiy since 1595, is run by the National Trust and gets about 80,000 visitor each year.

The family has decided to move to a private home to raise their children.

The top price was paid for a pair of George III chairs, which were sold for �62,000.

The private collection has been held in the family wing of the castle and many of the objects on sale had not been seen by the public before.

The auction was carried out in the grounds of the castle on Monday.

I think the most painful thing is the loss of family portraits which are just too big to take to a smaller house which is where we are moving to Guy Myddelton

Guy Myddelton said the grounds had become too busy an environment to raise his sons, aged five and three, which had prompted the decision to leave.

"Naturally we are very sad because our family has been here for a very long time, for over 400 years.

"There are a lot of people here - on a busy bank holiday weekend you might find upwards of 1,500 - 2,000 people in the garden," he told BBC Wales.

This book, valued at �20,000, is one of the 650 items

"I think the most painful thing is the loss of family portraits which are just too big to take to a smaller house which is where we are moving to."

The highest estimated price was for a George III mahogany serving table, which was expected to go for between �50,000-�80,000.

But there were smaller, more affordable things to be picked up - walking sticks, crockery, including a cup and saucer which were broken for �5-�10.

Christie's representative Jill Potterton said the sale had gone very well.

"The sale totalled �1.4m, a bit more than we were expecting - we'd estimated around �1m.

A stuffed owl is one of the variety of items, from across the centuries

"It was a very good result.

"We were in a marquee and we had between 300-400 people and a lot of local interest.

"The Myddeltons were very pleased."