LEES COURT ESTATE – FACT SHEET
Background
§ Lees Court Estate has been in the Sondes family for the past 700 years. The Estate became the centre of The Countess Sondes life on the death of her husband, Henry George Herbert, The Fifth Earl Sondes in 1996.
§ The Estate is approximately 4,500 acres with a core of 3,000 acres around the villages of Sheldwich and Badlesmere. The remaining 1,500 acres are to the north and comprise parts of the Swale Estuary (a designated Ramsar conservation site) and the Faversham and Oare Creeks.
§ Historically the Estate was as large as 85,000 acres and even today has been referred to as the finest Estate in Kent.
§ The core of the Estate includes four principal traditional let farms and about 550 acres of woodland. There is also a large in-hand farm. There are about 30 houses on the Estate, occupied by current and retired employees and residential tenants as well as over 100 other buildings.
§ Most income comes from the traditional ways expected from an Estate like Lees Court, including farm and residential rents, sporting income and other miscellaneous sources. There is some income derived from timber sales although every year this is exceeded by investment in planting new trees and maintaining approximately 250,000 trees replanted as a result of the 1987 hurricane.
§ The Estate is managed in a way that respects the local community and Church, acknowledging that it provides important jobs and homes for many families and above all ensuring that this way of life is able to continue.
§ The Estate is presently involved in four major areas of work aiming to build on its core work, ensure the prosperity of Lees Court and enhance its quality of life. The Estate uses a unique marketing approach to support this work.
· ‘Seeds’, a farm diversification project marketing Lees Court crops in a line of personal care products.
· As an ambassador and advocate, The Countess Sondes promotes the growing and marketing of innovative non-food crops for use in industry, pharmaceuticals, neutraceuticals (highly functional foods with greater health benefits), personal care products and bio-fuels as opposed to conventional food production.
· The Countess Sondes is also working with the United Nations in the area of non-food crops, which will provide opportunities for developing countries as well as encouraging the use of crops as opposed to fossil fuels.
· The Lees Court Estate Project is a joint Research Project with The Game Conservancy Trust and the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE). This flagship Project is designed to evaluate and analyse the conservation and biodiversity benefits of management practices to conserve game at Lees Court and four other comparison sites. A questionnaire on the ‘Perceptions of Stakeholders on Gamebird Shooting in Lowland Britain’ has been designed and developed as part of this project.
§ The Countess’ advocacy has led her to speak about her work at Lees Court and the messages of the countryside to a variety of audiences, through television, radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews. She has also lectured to academic institutions as well as speaking at agricultural seminars and the House of Lords and has been published in the United Nations Chronicle.
LEES COURT ESTATE FARMING FACTSHEET
SEEDS
§ The Countess Sondes has been looking for ways to create new sources of income. Concerned about the state of farming in Britain, and keen to find a way out of the difficulties the sector is facing, The Countess Sondes decided to take a risk and explore new avenues of revenue.
§ The Government is giving widespread encouragement to farmers to both diversify their business to generate alternative sources of income and to effectively market UK farming. In response to this, The Countess Sondes has developed ‘Seeds’, a range of personal care products using crops grown on the Estate.
§ ‘Seeds’ was originally launched in the USA and a new range, based on non-food crops will be launched in the UK in 2006.
§ The development of the range of personal care products based on crops grown at Lees Court has entailed a considerable amount of time and investment.
§ The main oils used in the ‘Seeds’ range are extracted using a specialist toxin free process. Customary methods of oil extraction often leave undesirable residues, whereas this process produces a superior pure oil, entirely free of any residue, with its own natural vitamins and anti-oxidants safe and intact. Lees Court is pioneering the use of this specialist process for the extraction of oils from crops grown on the Estate.
§ The first line of products was based on wheat. It used wheatgerm oil extracted using the toxin free process.
§ The next line of ‘Seeds’ products will be based on a non-food crop, grown at Lees Court. Again, it will be the first time that this specialist extraction process has been used in the UK for this crop.
TRADITIONAL AND NON-FOOD CROPS
The aim of farming on the Lees Court Estate is to maximise profit by producing crops with the highest quality and yield from a sustainable agricultural system, whilst conserving the natural environment.
Traditional Farming
§ The majority of the soil on the Estate is listed as Grade One (under the Agricultural Land Classification of England and Wales) and is therefore extremely fertile. (Less than ten percent of Britain’s soil is listed Grade One.) This means that high yields are achievable.
§ The Farm is a member of LEAF, Linking Environment And Farming. This is a bi-annual audit to encourage the farm to adopt the aims and principles of Integrated Crop Management (ICM). ICM is a method of farming that balances the requirements of running a profitable business with responsibility and sensitivity to the environment. It includes practices that avoid waste, enhance energy efficiency and minimize pollution. ICM combines the best of modern technology with some basic principles of good farming practices and is a whole farm, long-term strategy. The Farm is also undertaking the Voluntary Initiative. This is an initiative for spray operatives to continually develop better management skills and standards in regards to pesticides and fertilizers.
§ Current conventional cropping includes winter wheat, peas, spring beans, oilseed rape and set-aside (land for which farmers are paid subsidies for not growing any crops). For the 2004 harvest the farm produced 10.5 tonnes per hectare of winter wheat compared to an average of 7.8 tonnes per hectare for Eastern region members of the National Farmers Union (NFU).
§ The Estate works very closely with its tenant farmers, who farm a mix of dairy, arable, vegetables and fruit and the local community. In keeping with that tradition, the Estate hosted the 2003 East Kent Ploughing Match. This was a huge success, breaking previous attendance records with over 4000 visitors. Tours highlighting the innovative work of the Estate were sponsored by Bayer CropScience.
§ The Estate regularly hosts tours for a diverse range of organisations and individuals to showcase its work.
Non-Food Crops
§ Non-food crops are grown for use in industry, pharmaceuticals, neutraceuticals, personal care products and bio-fuels as opposed to conventional food production. The Government has been encouraging farmers to grow non-food crops although so far the response of British farmers has been slow. It is expected that non-food crops will revolutionise farming, with expectations of seeing a third of farming in non-food crops within the next decade.
§ The Estate works with the National Non-Food Crop Centre and Springdale Crop Synergies Ltd, the acknowledged leaders in linking research, industry and agriculture in areas of non-food crop development. The Lees Court Estate is at the forefront of the development of agronomy techniques for the production of certain innovative non-food crops.
§ Since Spring 2003, the farm has been growing non-food crops under contract to ‘Seeds’, Cargills and Springdale Crop Synergies as well as trialing additional non-food crops. Lees Court will be extracting the oils from these non-food crops using a specialist extraction process to provide a toxin free oil. It will be the first time that this method of extraction has been used in Britain on some of these non-food crops.
§ The Countess Sondes has been working with the United Nations on a new project for non-food crops. The aim is to provide opportunities for developing countries as well as encouraging increased use of crops as opposed to fossil fuels.
§ The Countess Sondes believes that the introduction of non-food crops could provide additional opportunities for farmers and create important new revenue streams. She hopes the farm will be an example of how embracing change in farming can lead to success and inspire others to follow.
Lees Court Shoot
§ Lees Court is renowned for its first class shoot, which takes place over much of the Estate with the highest birds being presented over the steep sided valley that runs north to south through the middle of the Estate.
§ The first days of the season will take place in October, with 14 or more days through to January. A mix of pheasants and red-legged partridges are released on the Estate for the shooting season.
§ The Countess Sondes, who runs the Lees Court Shoot, assumed the responsibility on the death of her husband, The Earl Sondes, in 1996. She is assisted by two full time gamekeepers and employs up to an additional 50 people on shoot days, including beaters, pickers up, loaders and catering staff.
§ The Countess Sondes is a vociferous supporter of shooting. She thinks it is important that this historically significant way of life is maintained and believes the shoot improves biodiversity on the Estate, as well as generating local employment and supporting the rural economy.
§ Lees Court is about an hour and a half’s drive from central London and approximately 15 minutes from Ashford International Railway Station.
§ A number of days are available to purchase, ranging from 150-300 bird days. Please contact the Estate Office for further information 01227 731331 or email office@leescourtestate.co.uk
The Lees Court Estate Project
The Lees Court Estate is involved in a joint Research Project, due for completion in 2005, with The Game Conservancy Trust and the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE). This flagship Project was designed to evaluate and analyse the conservation and biodiversity benefits of management practices to conserve game at Lees Court and four other comparison sites.
The Game Conservancy Trust is the country’s leading and most respected scientific body involved in research into game and wildlife conservation. DICE is arguably the foremost academic body in the U.K. for biodiversity and conservation. The Project is partially sponsored by Holland and Holland Ltd, a leading manufacturer and retailer of shooting accessories and guns.
As part of the Project:
§ Environmental audits (assessments of the biodiversity of given areas of land) have been carried out by DICE.
§ The National Gamekeepers Organisation, The Game Conservancy Trust, Holland and Holland and Strutt and Parker have helped in developing and designing a questionnaire on the ‘Perceptions of Stakeholders on Gamebird Shooting in Lowland Britain’.
The results from all elements of the Project are due to be released in 2006, after peer review. There is an 11-member steering committee for the Lees Court Estate Project co-chaired by The Countess Sondes and The Earl Peel, President of The Game Conservancy Trust, which will remain together until the dissemination of the results.
§ The Countryside Stewardship Scheme is the Government’s principal scheme for funding the conservation and management of the farmed countryside. Farmers are paid grants to implement management methods that enhance the landscape, encourage wildlife and protect historical features. Lees Court is at the forefront of conservation methods and is a major participant through its three separate Countryside Stewardship Schemes on the Estate (one of the three schemes is in its twelfth year). The principal Scheme was entered into as part of the Lees Court Estate Project to enhance the farmland ecosystem and biodiversity of the Estate and provide valuable habitat for wildlife and gamebirds.
§ As part of the Research Project, Lees Court commissioned an independent study to demonstrate that Government Grant assistance, through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, rarely covers the profits foregone or investment by farmers in capital programmes to enhance the countryside. The report was raised as a written question to The House of Lords and its findings accepted.
