A pig farmer caught up in a four-year dispute with his multimillionaire neighbours has disclosed that he sold his greenbelt land to a group of travellers for more than £200,000.
After years of discussions with the council and surrounding property owners, Matthew Silvester, 39, and his 34-year-old wife, Helen Freeman, agreed to sell Hares Farm in the quiet Hampshire village of South Warnborough this summer.
During the August Bank Holiday weekend, while council offices were closed, a group of travellers arrived at the beauty spot and established an unauthorised encampment.
Described by some as an audacious “land grab”, the newcomers brought diggers and vans onto the field before laying tarmac across part of the site.
Caravans and mobile homes were placed on the eight-acre property, close to the luxury homes on Pickaxe Lane, where properties are valued at more than £5million.
Residents told Our News Outlet that they had been threatened, no longer felt secure in their gardens and feared the encampment would make their homes harder to sell.
Our News Outlet can now reveal that the former owner knowingly sold Hares Farm to the travellers after neighbours reported him to the district council for living on the land without residential planning permission.
Pig farmers Matthew Silvester, 39, and Helen Freeman, 34, closed their business, The Woodland Pig Co, this summer and sold the land to travellers for more than £200,000
An unauthorised encampment was established at Hares Farm in South Warnborough, Hampshire, during the August Bank Holiday weekend while local council offices were closed
Nearby homeowners said they believed Mr Silvester and his wife had taken “revenge” by selling the land to travellers, who placed mobile homes and caravans on the site
Hart District Council subsequently ordered the couple, who have two children, to remove the cabin where they had been living and disconnect it from the electricity and water supplies.
The couple said those restrictions made it impossible to continue caring for their 35 breeding sows. They decided to close their farm business, The Woodland Pig Co, sell the land and travel.
Mr Silvester told Our News Outlet: “We were interested in selling, just to dispose of the asset at that point.
“Then this traveller family approached us through an intermediary and said they wanted to buy the land. I asked how much they were willing to pay.
“It was a very generous offer. I did not even ask what they planned to do with it.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: Reece Walsh’s Father Speaks Out for the First Time About How the NRL Grand Final Star Overcame the Impact of His Mother’s Drug Addiction
“I just laughed to myself that the neighbours who did not want a pig farm or a quiet family next door would suddenly have some gypsies keeping their horses there or something.”
Mr Silvester, who is now travelling through south-east Asia with his family, said the land was sold for more than £200,000.
At about 5.30pm on Friday, August 28, as council staff were preparing to leave for the bank holiday, several residents reported seeing men wearing hoodies and balaclavas carrying out construction work on the land.
About a dozen mobile homes and caravans were subsequently brought onto the site.
The incident reflects a wider pattern in which travellers buy greenbelt land, often in leafy areas of the Home Counties, before establishing unauthorised sites.
Planning applications are then sometimes submitted retrospectively, with some encampments receiving permission after appeals.
Mr Silvester said friends and family sent him Our News Outlet’s reports about the development.
Mr Silvester left the UK to travel with his family after selling the greenbelt land
The former pig farmer described the situation as a “very funny story”, adding: “It was the first time we realised the extent of what they were going to do.
“I have to chuckle because they could have had a small business, with a log cabin and a family running it, supporting the wider community.
“Instead, they have ended up with what appears to be an unauthorised gypsy traveller camp.”
Nearby homeowners, who say they have lived with constant fear and anxiety since the sale, told the Mail they believed Mr Silvester and his wife had sought “revenge” by selling the land to the travellers.
One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “I have never met him, but if it gives him the satisfaction he needs, he has completely destroyed our lives, our sense of family and our mental health.
“If his intention was to ruin the lives of people who had recently moved to the area, damage the local environment and cause panic and anxiety among vulnerable and elderly residents, then he has been very successful.”
Hart District Council is seeking legal advice on clearing the site and removing the unauthorised works.
