A dedicated family team
Tim Braithwaite
Tim Braithwaite is one of the principal directors of the company, actively managing the estate alongside his wife Sharon. Tim is responsible for managing the storage lets and rental properties, and is working on the development of permissive walking, pods and events around the estate. When not running the farm, Tim works as an award-winning copywriter.
Sharon Braithwaite
Sharon Braithwaite grew up in East London and remains slightly surprised that she now runs a farm in West Sussex. She is the Operations and Finance Director for the farm and oversees the wider management of the estate, including the farming, environmental schemes, woodland and estate management, as well as running the DIY livery yard.
Tim and Sharon are supported by Tim’s parents, Nicky and John, who have managed and nurtured the farm for many decades. Nicky’s knowledge of the farm is encyclopaedic!
The Braithwaites see themselves as the current caretakers of this beautiful patch of land in the South Downs National Park and hope to preserve it for generations to come, for both family members and for all who will come to enjoy the Lower House Farm estate – even if they are just passing through enjoying one of several public footpaths.
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A dedicated family team
Tim Braithwaite
Tim Braithwaite is one of the principal directors of the company, actively managing the estate alongside his wife Sharon. Tim is responsible for managing the storage lets and rental properties, and is working on the development of permissive walking, pods and events around the estate. When not running the farm, Tim works as an award-winning copywriter.
Sharon Braithwaite
Sharon Braithwaite grew up in East London and remains slightly surprised that she now runs a farm in West Sussex. She is the Operations and Finance Director for the farm and oversees the wider management of the estate, including the farming, environmental schemes, woodland and estate management, as well as running the DIY livery yard.
Tim and Sharon are supported by Tim’s parents, Nicky and John, who have managed and nurtured the farm for many decades. Nicky’s knowledge of the farm is encyclopaedic!
The Braithwaites see themselves as the current caretakers of this beautiful patch of land in the South Downs National Park and hope to preserve it for generations to come, for both family members and for all who will come to enjoy the Lower House Farm estate – even if they are just passing through enjoying one of several public footpaths.
A brief history of the farm
The original farmhouse on Ropes Lane was built around 1650 as a satellite farmhouse on the Blackdown Estate. It consisted of just two rooms downstairs, a small kitchen at the back and two bedrooms upstairs.
Nicky's parents lived in London during the 1930s and her father, Guy, had always wanted to own a farm with some land. Her mother, Violet, recalled spending time in her childhood with her grandfather Owen Scripps Tudor in Fernhurst and suggested they look for a farm in this area. Nicky’s aunt, Alice Tudor, had published a book on the history of Fernhurst in 1934, so there were strong family connections to bring the Morgan family to this village.
In 1940, the Blackdown Estate was put up for sale. This is when Nicky’s father bought Lower House Farm, comprising a mix of arable farmland and ancient English woodland.
Nicky was born and grew up in the farmhouse. She met her husband, John, when they were students at architectural college and, after spending time in London building their architectural practice, they moved back into the farm in the 1980s.
Nicky and John’s eldest son, Tim and his wife Sharon moved to the farm in 2003 and were eventually joined by their children, Naomi and Oscar, and an ever-growing menagerie of pets.
Sustainable farming and preserving ancient woodland
Lower House Farm is, at its heart, a working arable farm, dedicated to growing a rotation of crops like wheat, barley and maize.
However, our commitment extends beyond harvest. We have enrolled several areas of the estate into the Government’s Sustainable Farming Incentive Scheme to actively manage the land to help nurture wildlife habitats, improve soil health and reduce insecticide use.
This includes planting seed mixes to sustain birds throughout the winter and nectar mixes that feed the local bee community, of which a local honey, Fernhurst Bees, is produced by a local resident from his apiaries situated on the farm.
We are planting more native English hedging plants around the estate to provide vital food, shelter and safe travel corridors for a wide range of wildlife, from insects to small mammals, like hedgehogs and dormice.
Ancient English woodland makes up more than half of the Lower House Farm estate. A woodland management plan is underway to help nurture these old woods long into the future.