The Yorkshire village where 'time has stood still' – and is now on sale for £20m

Residents are worried their rent is about to increase

(Cundalls)

It's got 43 cottages, a pub and a manor house - and it's yours for £20m.

An entire English village has gone on sale for £20 million after 150 years with the same family.

West Heslerton in Yorkshire has already piqued the interest of buyers from Yorkshire to northern Europe and the Middle East.

Villagers reportedly have concerns that their rent, which the previous owner kept deliberately low for them, could be about to increase.

Tom Watson, director of Cundalls estate agency which is handling the sale, said "time had stood still" in the village until now.

"I think it will go one way or another, either to someone very commercially-minded who will increase the rent, or to someone who actually has got enough money and can afford to keep rents low," he told The Independent.

The village's previous owner, Eve Dawnay, wanted her legacy of giving villagers cheap rent and trying to support the local community to be carried on.

Yet she died in 2010 without an heir and the estate agency has spent the last six years making arrangements for the sale.

"We've had enquiries from far and wide, from locally-based people in Yorkshire to people from all over the UK and from the Arab states to Scandinavia," said Mr Watson.

He said his team were hopeful of a "benevolent buyer" for the residents, whose village includes a 21-bedroom mansion, a sports pavillion, filling station, playing field and 2,116 acres of surrounding land.

"If there were two equal bids, and one was a more benevolent type of bidder, that may be looked at more favourably," said Mr Watson.

"But we can't say for sure."