Plans for farm shop and tea room in Burgess Hill

The proposed Ote Hall Farm shop and tea room promises to put truly local produce on the town’s doorstep and create up to 25 jobs on the 350-acre farm which currently employs just one member of staff.

Facilities will include butchery and deli counters and offer craft drinks, fresh, frozen and pantry goods as well as weigh-your-own dry ingredients, providing an outlet for other farmers and food producers in the county.

Up to a third of its products will come from within a 30-mile radius, and the farm will provide Ote Hall Sussex traditional grass fed beef, as well as pork, lamb, and game.

Accessed off Janes Lane or reached via an already well-used network of footpaths, the shop and tea room will be within walking distance of Burgess Hill and Wivelsfield, close to Ote Hall Business Park.

Carola Godman Irvine, who runs the business with her sons Matthew and Charley, said: “Ote Hall would not survive as a purely traditionally run farm without having already diversified into various enterprises.

“We see the farm shop and tea room as a natural way forward.

“Local people tell us that, despite being surrounded by some of the finest countryside in England, it is still difficult to track down home-produced meat, dairy and other high-quality Sussex foods without going miles out of their way for them.

“This project is not only essential to future proofing our farm for the next 100 years, but it will also provide a way for local farmers and food producers to find a wider audience.

“We are really keen to engage with our local community and would welcome feedback.”

Ote Hall has been mostly owned and run by the Godman family since the 16th century.

Up until the 1960s it was famous for its prize-winning pedigree dairy Guernsey cattle, which were replaced with native purebred Sussex beef cattle which are sold directly to farm shops, as well as local and London butchers.

A percentage of the profits from the farm shop and tearoom will be donated to the Godman Foundation, a new charity which will be established to promote education, training and mentoring of young people, including those with learning difficulties.