A Suffolk trust has appointed two agents to manage the sale of its estate near Eye.

Kerrison Trust owns a big plot in Thorndon, near Eye - comprising 16 tenanted homes and 60 hectares of land.

The trustees of the 150-year-old East Anglian charity announced plans in February to sell its property and focus on its key objective of helping young people.

They have appointed Savills and Lacy Scott & Knight to handle the sale - stressing that they were seeking agents able to act sensitively given the tenants living in the properties.

A number of shortlisted agents visited the site before the board decided the sale would be "best served" by a joint appointment.

The formal sales campaign is expected to start in the next few weeks.

"Tenants of the 16 residential properties have been updated, and will continue to be kept informed of matters affecting them as appropriate," said Kerrison.

A spokesman for the trustee board said: “We are very pleased to confirm the joint appointment of Savills and Lacy Scott Knight.

“It has been very important to us to find the right agent, or agents, who understand the sensitivity involved in selling land where tenants are currently still in residence, and who are mindful of the overall objectives of The Kerrison Trust and our desire to focus on the charity’s core aims in helping young people.”

Will Hargreaves of Savills said they were very much looking forward to working closely with joint agents Lacy Scott & Knight and the trustees to secure a successful outcome.

“As a business connected so closely to rural communities in Suffolk we were delighted to be asked to advise the trust on the sale," he said.

Alex Turner of Lacy Scott & Knight said: “We have been working with the trust in managing the Kerrison site for many years and we are delighted to be appointed as joint selling agents with Savills.”

The reform school at Kerrison was founded in 1856. Trust founder Lady Caroline Kerrison - an artist and one of the few females to be accepted by the Photographic Society - was responsible for the design of the Kerrison Reformatory, as it later became known.

The schools were originally conceived as an alternative to prison for young offenders.

Today, the charity provides grants to individuals and organisations in Norfolk and Suffolk.

A spokesman for the trustee board has previously said while the trust had relied on its property holdings as its main source of funding, the costs of upgrades and repairs were rising.

Trustees decided the purposes of the trust would be best served by selling the whole estate of land and properties in Thorndon.