Wiltshire’s longest-established clay target shooting school has been sold 20 years after it first opened its doors to the public.

Barbury Shooting School in the foothills of the Marlborough Downs, just a mile-and-a-half south east of Barbury Castle, has been sold by its husband-and-wife founders, John and Maureen King.

The School, which saw over 1,500 people participate in private training and corporate shooting events last year, has been bought by the Stephens family who plan to grow the business still further.

“I had reached the point where I felt I had taken the business as far as I could and was ready to devote my time and energy to a new venture,” explained John King. “In addition to my role at the shooting school, I have spent the last few years providing executive coaching to companies, using my background in psychology and leadership training gained over 25 years in the Royal Navy to hone my skills in this area. I now want to concentrate on my executive coaching business, John King Coaching Limited.

“I am delighted to have found such keen and able buyers for the shooting school in mother and son team, Mary and Huw Stephens. They are already making great strides in taking the business forwards, and I am very pleased to continue working with them over the coming months to ensure the transition is as seamless as possible. I will also be continuing to provide shooting tuition at the school when required.”

Spread over a 6.5 acre landscaped site, Barbury Shooting School offers 40 separate shooting positions and nine shooting areas, seven of which have custom-built field shelters to accommodate groups comfortably during tuition or while waiting for their turn to practice. There is also a log cabin-style club house which provides a long veranda for relaxation and a dining room which accommodates up to 40 people.

Savills’ specialist Leisure team marketed the business to potential buyers whilst Swindon and Marlborough-based law firm Withy King and Dennis & Turnbull Chartered Accountants handled all aspects of the business sale and leasehold transfer.

The land is leased to the School by the Margesson family who also own the surrounding 1,000 acres of arable farmland. They supported John King’s idea of establishing a shooting school on part of their land and his application for planning permission 20 years ago.

“This is an excellent example of how farmers and land owners can diversify to enable their estates or agricultural holdings to remain viable,” said Angus Williams, an agricultural and commercial property lawyer at Withy King, who was involved in the sale.

“We have been involved in a wide range of diversification projects, from leisure activities and outdoor pursuits to the conversion and construction of buildings for holiday lets and commercial rental, on behalf of rural property owners. It’s no secret that traditional farming has come under increasing pressure to lower commodity prices whilst improving quality and this, together with increasing land prices, has made it difficult for many farmers to expand. However, positive policies relating to conservation and leisure have helped to make schemes, such as Barbury Shooting School, successful and popular.”

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