Home Farms
Cowdray Home Farms is the base for the in house farming operations of Cowdray Park.
Management
The management of Cowdray Home Farms, Bepton Farms and Bepton Organics is based at Moor Farm which is on the A272 on the drive parallel to Cowdray House. The Farm employs eleven full-time people. Casual labour is also used at the time of peak workload.
Location
The farm is located to the east of Midhurst and the land farmed is in and around the main park land at Cowdray Park along the River Rother Valley. The soil type is sandy loam and covers 838 hectares (2070 acres).
Farming Enterprise
The farming enterprise at the Home Farms are Dairying and arable with potatoes. There are two dairies, one at Moor Farm and one at The Kennels at West Lavington. The herds are predominantly autumn calving Holstein cows and produce milk that is sold to Dairy Crest. There are 165 cows at Kennels Dairy and 195 cows at the Moor Dairy.
The farm has its own milk processing unit which processes Organic milk which is sold in the Cowdray Farm Shop and to other local retailers.
There are 500 Free Range Chickens on the farm. The eggs collected are used predominantly at the Farm Shop. Some of them are used for ingredients for produce made in the shop while the rest are sold.
The farm is registered with the Soil Association an organic farming body, and as from the August 2008 the dairy and associated ground is fully organic.
The farm has been accepted in the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme which commenced in May 2007.
Potato Harvesting at Cowdray Home Farms, Midhurst
Crisping Potatoes & Combinable Crops
The farm grows 35 hectares (90 acres) of potatoes which produces 1300 tonnes of crisping potatoes. These enter long term storage in September and are released to the Walkers Crisps in Leicester in June. The farm has its own washing and grading plant, the potatoes are washed and taken to the factory in bulker lorries.
There is also in the region of 300 hectares (750 acres) of combinable crops, mainly wheat, some of which is used to feed the cows and the remainder is sold on the open market.
The farm sits in an Area of Outstanding Beauty and is famous for its feature trees. There are several Farm Woodland Schemes running on the Estate and over 3000 metres of hedges have been planted since the year 2000.
The farm has been accepted on an Environmental Stewardship Scheme which commenced in March 2006.
Contact
If you wish to contact Cowdray Home Farms, Cowdray Park, Midhurst, West Sussex. Telephone 01730 812089 or email ku.oc.yardwocnull@smrafemohyardwoc