A FARMER'S son who was disinherited after a "personality clash" with his father has won a £2.7 million slice of the family land and business.

Andrew Guest, 52, started working on Tump Farm, in Sedbury, after leaving school aged 16.

He worked there for 30 years, but a dramatic falling out with his father, David Guest, saw him cut out of the patriarch's will in favour of his younger brother.

Now, a High Court judge has intervened, ordering David Guest to hand his eldest son almost half the farm and dairy business, valued at more than £6.2 million.

Judge Jonathan Russen QC said Andrew Guest had spent the best years of his life working on the farm for "little financial reward" and did not deserve to be cut off without a penny.

David Guest changed his will last year, removing Andrew Guest and leaving Tump Farm to his younger son, Ross.

In a letter attached to the will, the father said he had "lost all trust" in Andrew and that he had "never promised" him any sort of inheritance.

But the judge ruled David Guest had given his son Andrew "assurances" over the years that, if he worked hard, he would inherit a substantial share of the farm.

Andrew Guest began working on the farm in 1982, from "the moment he left school", and told the court he worked up to 60 hours a week for little pay.

But his parents said he had been given a job, a rent-free home and "pay and perks" for over 30 years.

The father said his son had been working on the farm "for the benefit of the family".

The couple's lawyers argued Andrew "had his chance and blew it" and they were entitled to leave the farm to whoever they wished.

The pair were backed up in court by Ross Guest and their daughter, Jan, who even accused Andrew Guest of "filching £5 from their aunt Sally" when he was aged 12.

But the judge said Andrew Guest had "stuck with it for over three decades" even though his relationship with his father "was not the easiest".

"He would not have done so had David not encouraged the idea of an inheritance," the judge added.

The judge said Andrew Guest and his parents had "fallen out so badly" it would be impossible for him to move back to Tump Farm.

The "level of mistrust" between them meant he could not continue farming alongside his father and brother and the only option was a financial "clean break."

The judge awarded Andrew Guest 50 per cent of the value of the dairy business and 40 per cent of the freehold value of the land and buildings.