THE price of a Premier League footballer could secure the keys to the Daresbury Estate.

The luxurious mansion and 938 acres of land – host to the Creamfields music festival each August bank holiday weekend – are up for sale for £11,575,000.

Estate agents Strutt and Parker confirmed months of rumours that Lord Daresbury was selling up and moving away.

The reason behind the Lord’s move remains a mystery, but the estate has submitted plans to Halton Borough Council to transform agricultural areas of the land into homes.

The estate is up for sale as a whole or in up to eight lots.

The mansion includes eight bedrooms, six reception rooms, a swimming pool, tennis and squash court as well as equestrian facilities.

Two farmhouses, six cottages and a groom’s flat make up the rest of the estate’s properties.

The site was originally included in the Greenall family’s Walton Estate, which was assembled by Sir Gilbert Greenall (the great-great-grandson of the founder of brewers Greenall Whitley & Co Ltd, later The Greenalls Group plc). Lord Daresbury, the chairman of Aintree Racecourse, has lived at the Daresbury Estate since 1980.

It is believed he is planning to move to Malpas, near Chester.

Some staff employed on the estate have been given notices of redundancy but dates for the end of employment have not been given.

Earlier this year, the sale of the estate was used by campaigners fighting a bid by Creamfields organisers Loud Sound for a premises licence for the dance event at Daresbury until 2012. Their case was refused and the dance festival will be held on the land for the fifth consecutive year on August 28 and 29.

A spokesman for the music festival said: “Creamfields has a number of years left on its agreement with Daresbury Estate and we anticipate remaining on the site even beyond this period.”