ONE of Stockbridge's best known properties changed hands for £840,000 at a packed auction.

It was standing room only as around 100 people flocked to the town's Grosvenor Hotel on Wednesday.

The property up for sale was nearby Stokes' Garage in High Street, officially known as Stockbridge House. Mr and Mrs Stokes bought the grade II listed building in 1964.

The property includes a former filling station, which closed in 2005, a six-bedroom house, and nearly an acre of land.

It also offers 300 yards of exclusive fishing rights on Parker's Stream, which runs alongside the property.

Auctioneers, BCM, said Victorian socialite, Lillie Langtry, mistress to the future Edward VII, once stayed at Stockbridge House. Legend also had it that the property was a house of ill repute in the very distant past.

Auctioneer, Iain Curry, joked that inquiries were made if its former uses were covered by existing planning permission.

He opened the bidding at the guide price of £800,000, although it dropped to £650,000 before anyone started to bite.

Several offers then came in before the figure stalled at £830,000. Mr Curry was poised to sell when a new bidder surfaced at the second time of asking.

However, Peveril Bruce from Matterley Farm near Winchester, who made the £830,000 bid, went £10,000 further and won.

Afterwards, Mr Bruce said he was representing an unnamed buyer, and not himself. He added that he was unable to divulge the buyer's proposals.

Said Mr Bruce: "I do think it will be a huge asset to Stockbridge with his plans, and what he intends to do.

"Obviously he would have rather paid £830,000 rather than £840,000. I certainly thought it was gone at the first price, and then it wasn't."

The other lot auctioned was 3.7 acres of equestrian land at Lippen Lane, Warnford. It changed hands for £68,000, which was £2,000 below the guide price.