Coombes Farm

In Coombes, near Lancing, West Sussex, England UK where the Passmore family have been farming for 5 generations since 1901.
Church Farm itself is a fully working farm set in 1000 acres or 420 hectares within the beautiful South Downs in West Sussex. There is 140 acres of land down by the River Adur, 2 metres below high tide. This land was traditionally used for Summer Grazing and could not be used in the winter as it becomes water logged. As it is good rich alluvial soil, it was drained with porous pipes which run into a ditch system, enabling us to now be able to grow crops down by the River. Also in 1990 we dug Passies Pond.
Crops that we grow: Hard wheats for breadmaking, Soft Wheats for cakes, biscuits and animal feed, Barley for beer and animal feed, Lucerne (Alfalfa) is grown for hay and Rape for sheep feed in the winter The rest of the farm is Downland. The South Downs are predominantly chalk with a thin layer of top soil and by tradition have been grazed by sheep. However in times of shortage of food, they have been ploughed up to plant other crops.
There are conservation areas, some of which the Passmore's started being planted in the 1950's to produce habitats for the wild life, and been aided by the Women's Institute in 1979 as well as being planted up over the years. The Bank of flowers has over 200 different plants. The Cowslips are a picture in the Spring, then there are Orchids, Poppies, Eggs & Bacon, Bedstraws, Clovers, to mention but a few - the Autumn is a mass of Scabius.

And don't forget to visit Coombes Church with it's 11th Century Frescoes. A booklet of the farm and its history is available from Church Farm. Price £2.50 + 50p p&p.

ESA

Environmentally Sensitive Area

In 1987, the Government, to help reduce production, produced a voluntary scheme called the E S A's. In this scheme we are paid not to use fertilisers or sprays, but to manage the grassland on a less intensive system. There are 10 areas in the UK of which the Southdowns is one. There were different tiers, one conversion from arable and another using existing grassland without fertilisers and sprays.

When we laid down the grass lay, we put in Ryegrass, Timothy, White Clover and Trefoil. The clover produces nitrogen and so helps the grasses to grow, and the different mixture makes sure there is always one type of plant growing. The Ministry of Agriculture who inspects it on a regular basis, monitors the whole scheme and it is also monitored buy satellite.

As it is a voluntary scheme, we started with 80 acres and now have 510 acres and the main advantage to the area is that a lot of wild flora and fauna are now returning.

Conservation

When the Passmores came to Coombes, the land had not been used for two years and consequently it was full of scrub, but no hedges. It was then cleared in order to become more efficient. As time passed, we were encouraged to produce more and more with grants and subsidies. Dick and Mary Passmore decided to plant tree areas for wildlife. In the late 50's there were no grants or advice, so a mixture of trees and shrubs were used to provide a habitat for wild animals and birds. Since then over the years, more have been planted including 600 trees supplied by the WI in 1979. These include Bramber Beech, Sycamore, Maple, Alder and Pine. In the year of 1997, we planted 1500 Ash, Oak Holly, Dogwood, Maple and Beech. With all this planting, we now have 18 acres in 10 different places.

We also have a natural wild bank of flowers, which has never been ploughed, sprayed or fertilised and in one survey there were many different species. Over 100 flowers, 28 grasses, 21 mosses, 3 liverworts and 6 lichens were counted. This then allows many changes in appearance throughout the year. Many of the flowers are very short and the bank has to be managed, so in the autumn the sheep are allowed in to graze the grasses off, as these would otherwise choke out the smaller species in the spring.

The wildlife also has to be controlled for a good balance, for example foxes take young lambs. Rabbits graze a lot of grass, for comparison 10 rabbits eat as much as 1 sheep, 5 as much as 1 cow. Also their burrows cause some distress to farm animals, it has been known for them to break their legs in these holes. A new problem to the area is the increasing numbers of Badgers, as Badgers traditionally had several sets and moved on a regular basis to avoid diseases. However, there are now too many and so a build up of TB has occurred, not only is it a threat to other animals but increasingly to humans. Badgers are also egg eating animals and consequently the numbers of ground nesting birds have decreased alarmingly in the last few years.

To sum up, we, the human population, have over many generations, upset the balance of nature and therefore need to control many of the species so all may live in harmony. We do through the winter, feed many of the birds; we use tail corn (small grains) and put it in feeders in the woods.