AN AUCTION of a wide range of items belonging to millionaire Felix Dennis at his estate between Evesham and Stratford raised more than £1 million.

Funds raised at the auction in Dorsington will be used to create a woodland in memory of the flamboyant publisher, poet and entrepreneur, who died of throat cancer in June last year aged 67.

Among the 2,300 lots assembled in a 20,000 square foot marquee in the three-day auction were an 1864 Ascot Cup, which sold for £67,000, a life size figure of Captain Hook and a Rolls Royce Silver Spirit, which was snapped up for a bargain £15,500.

When Mr Dennis died he passed on the mission of creating a 30,000 acre forest between the Vale of Evesham and Forest of Arden to the manager of his estate David Bliss.

Mr Bliss said the proceeds from the sale, which ran from Tuesday, September 30 until Thursday, October 1, would be used to carry on his dream by continuing to plant 300 acres every year – representing five per cent of all trees planted in the UK.

“Hopefully people who came to the auction will be able to walk through the wood in years to come and remember the story,” he said. “The proceeds of the auction will allow us to carry on with his dream of planting the Heart of England Forest.”

He added he was delighted by how popular the auction, which was run in conjunction with Stratford-based Bigwood Fine Art Auctioneers and Halls of Shrewsbury, had proven.

“It was everything that I wanted it to be because it brought so many local people together,” he said. “It was more like a party than an auction and Felix loved a party.

“It was a great way for the estate to release all his personal belongings to enable us to plant so many trees in the future.

“Felix would have wanted his possessions to be sold like that for the benefit of his legacy.

“It was nice that people appreciated what he had purchased and enjoyed.

“He bought things to enjoy and if he liked something he would buy several of them for his different homes around the world, as was demonstrated in the auction.”

The lots were gathered from Mr Dennis’ 12 homes across the world, including the Cotswolds, London, New York, Connecticut and the Caribbean island of Mustique.

Other items including a bow top gypsy caravan, which had been converted to a toilet and sold for £3,400, a pair of bronze barrelled cannons, which were snapped up for £11,800 and a 19th century Russian painting of an icon with a silver and gilt enamel inlay, which fetched £16,000.