COUNTRY life in Dorset is increasingly hard to achieve because of rocketing prices and a scarcity of prime sites, a report claims.

The cost of a county home in the countryside rose by an average of 2.7 per cent for the third quarter of 2004, the second highest rise in the country according to figures from the Knight Frank Country House Index.

This was against the national trend which actually showed a slight drop of 0.3 per cent for the same period.

The Index showed that the price for a three bedroom cottage in Dorset rose by 4.2 per cent to £375,000 for the year to September 2004.

Farmhouses also increased in price, up by 3.9 per cent to £800,000, while buyers had to dig very deep to find £2 million for the average Dorset country house.

Knight Frank said that the rises gave Dorset an average country home price for the year of £1,058,000, the 14th highest ranked county in the country.

David West, who is associate director and branch manager of Weymouth estate agent Palmer Snell, said: "Country properties with a bit of land attached to them have a scarcity value in Dorset and as such tend to sell well.

"These properties are few and far between and as such attract keen interest.

"Generally there has been a slowing across the main property price range because people have become more cautious as to what they are going to commit themselves to.

"Realistically priced properties are still selling but the market is not as keen as it was a few months ago."

Knight Frank research head Liam Bailey said: "The upper end of the country house

market is far less affected by base rate movements than the mainstream residential market.

"Of more significance are factors contributing to general economic confidence including stock market performance, oil prices and general economic and political stability."

Dorset's neighbour Hampshire was ranked seventh highest in the country for the price of an average country home for the year with three bedroom cottages priced at £412,500, farmhouses at £1,187,500 and country houses at £2.15 million.