Ampleforth Abbey sells around 400 acres of land in North Yorkshire and will not proceed with Gilling Castle holiday camp plans

The Abbey, which owns the land and buildings used by Roman Catholic boarding school Ampleforth College, is in the process of reviewing and disposing of various assets.

These include Gilling Castle, the former St Martin's prep school site which has been empty since 2018, when it merged with the senior school.

The large swathe of arable land between the Abbey and Gilling East was historically farmed by the Benedictine order, but has been rented out for several years.

It has been sold to a long-term tenant, believed to be local farmer Ian Mosey, who runs a livestock feed business.

The Abbey has also confirmed that it will not press ahead with plans initially announced in 2021 to convert Gilling Castle into holiday accommodation and an activity camp.They partnered with travel company Activate for the venture and began to take bookings last spring, but the website was later taken offline after Ryedale Council opened a planning enforcement case and eventually ruled that the Abbey had not sought permission for a change of use for the site.

A statement from Ampleforth Abbey read:- "The Abbey has not farmed its adjacent land for many years and recently took the decision to sell a proportion of its farmland to its current longstanding farm tenant with whom it has worked for many years.

"As a separate exercise, following the development of a Strategic Plan for the Trust, the Abbey Trust and the monastic community are actively considering the future use and ownership of Gilling Castle but currently have no specific plans for its use as holiday accommodation this summer."

Gilling Castle was advertised for sale via Savills in 2018 with a guide price of £3.5million, but has since been taken off the market.