Obriss Farm

Dating back to 1550

Obriss Farm, a collection of buildings situated in a 160 acre portion of countryside, blends into the landscape with a mix of timber, brick and tile. The earliest building on the site, the bakehouse behind the farmhouse, dates from 1550 and the timber-framed Landmark would have served as the living quarters for those who farmed here. Clues discovered from archaeological examinations hint that it was about twice the size of its current form. Further examination revealed that pieces were added and taken away from the farm over the years, suggesting that it had many different roles and housed many different families.

A cosy farmhouse of timber beams and open fires

Those who stay here can enjoy the immediate collection of buildings around the Landmark. Further afield is ancient woodland and a choice of footpaths for good walks. The High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is on your doorstep. Within driving distance is a wide range of historic places of interest, ready to transport you back to a bygone era.

You don't have to stray far to experience historical authenticity, as all the traditional buildings are still here: byres, stables, sheds as well as the great threshing barn are dotted around the farmhouse.

Mrs Cooper was keen that this aspect of Obriss should be preserved, but also wished for the buildings to be repaired, cared for, and enjoyed. It was for this reason that her executors opted for the Landmark Trust as its new guardian. While the farm buildings at Obriss remain in agricultural use, the farmhouse is now let throughout the year for short stays to parties of up to five people, to enjoy the unspoilt surroundings and the life of a small working farm through the seasons.

Managing a farm is not a typical task for Landmark, so the fields are let for pasture to a farmer whose family have farmed in the area for many years. Another solution was needed for the woods, which make up nearly a third of the farm. Landmark has entered into a Higher Level Stewardship Scheme for the management of the farm, including the woodland and it will reinstate and replant various areas.

The buildings of Obriss Farm

Obriss is typical of the small mixed farms which were formed in this area in the Tudor and Elizabethan era by yeomen, some freeholders, some tenants of larger landowners. Such farms were often the result of enclosing the large open fields of the medieval period, and this seems to have been the case at Obriss. A field to the north-east of the house has the clear `ridge and furrow' pattern left by medieval ploughs. The farm straddles the parish border of Brasted and Westerham. Its own boundaries, and those of its fields, have probably changed little in the last two or three hundred years.

The earliest building dates from between 1550 and 1600. This is the timber-framed bakehouse which stands behind the farmhouse. Examination by the archaeologist David Martin has revealed that this is in origin a detached kitchen, a rare survival of a once common building type. It was once about twice the size it is now, and probably served a combined use not only as a kitchen but as a bakehouse and brewhouse as well, with storage rooms and possibly some accommodation for servants. In the 19th century, when its brick chimney was added, it was used as a bakehouse and washhouse, and possibly a smokehouse, smoking bacon from this and neighbouring farms.

The front part of the farmhouse itself, which is timber-framed, is also thought to date from before 1600, although it has been added to and altered since. The character of the house as it is now, with its parlour and large kitchen, belongs more to the early 19th century.

The house needed some structural work, where the sole plate had rotted at the east end and along the front. The roof was railed on new battens and insulation, and the tile hanging on the back and sides of the house renewed, using a mixture of old and new handmade tiles. The walls were repointed using a lime and sand mortar to match some areas of old mortar that survived. Windows added in the 1920s were replaced with ones of a more sympathetic design.

Inside, restoration was kept to a minimum. Some re-plastering was needed, and the creation of two new bathrooms and a new kitchen. A second stair, inserted at a time when the house was divided into two cottages, was removed and the floor made up with new oak boards. The sitting room and bedroom above were painted in colours of which traces were found on the walls, using traditional distempers.

The work was carried out under the supervision of the architect Peregrine Bryant by Head and Southon of Lingfield, and Clive Whitby, roof tiler. The house was furnished in January 1996. A grant for the work was received from the Raymond and Blanche Lawson Charitable Trust. Support for work on the farm has also been given by the Countryside Commission under the Countryside Stewardship scheme. Two ponds were cleaned and new hedges are to be planted. It's hoped the orchard will be replanted in due course.