THE School House on Hollow Street in Great Somerford is to be auctioned next month.

The building next to the old primary school has been vacant since March.

The St Mary's Lands Trust, which is responsible for its disposal, has set June 24 at 6.30pm in the village as the date for the auction. It will be held at the Volunteer Inn.

The trust, which sold the main school building when pupils moved to the Walter Powell School in 1982, now wants to realise the value of the adjacent school house.

It intends to use the money raised from the sale for its work in education, for the church and those in need in the village.

Renting the two-bedroom property had been an option considered by the trust, but a £20,000 estimate for necessary renovation was thought to be beyond the trust's means.

Trust chairman Maris Cole said: "It is a sweet little place, a character property.

"It does need a lot of work to bring it up to standard and we could not afford the cost. We decided to sell as we have a responsibility to make as much as we can from the property to benefit the village."

The house will need damp treatment, new floors, the installation of a heating system and a new kitchen.

Dreweatt Neate is handling the sale and the trust hopes to raise around £200,000 from the auction.