Downs Barn 

Come stay in this idyllic country cottage

Contact us via www.titchhill.com to book

The side barn of a 200-year-old threshing barnyard has been reinvented to give visitors total immersion in nature, tranquillity and the beauty of the South Downs.   

Sheltered in the crook of a coombe, the Downs Barn has a butterfly-rich flower meadow in the yard, resident barn owls in a deluxe built-in nest box, and a dewpond attracting birds and damselflies.

The setting is beautiful and feels isolated, with starry dark night skies, yet is only a stone's throw over the hill from Worthing and the sea to the south, or Steyning to the north.  Views from the barnyard include the sea and white cliffs, the sun rising over Lancing Ring, rooks flying to Titch Hill Wood on the Mountain.  

Sompting Estate's traditional mixed Titch Hill Farm surrounds the Downs Barn, and its vineyard lies in the valley below. Traditional rare breeds, Southdown sheep and pedigree Sussex cattle, graze the pastures to conserve the flora and wildlife, and manure the arable fields between crops of wheat or barley.  The heritage of the surrounding farmland is built in to the Downs Barn, and a traditional ox-plough hangs in the living room.  A wildlife and local heritage library rests on shelves made from larch grown on the farm between the 1880s and the 1980s.

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History of the Downs Barn

The Downs Barn (originally Coombe Barn) was built in the early 1800s.  The site comprised a threshing barn (which blew down in the Great Storm of 1987), a yard, and a small side barn. 

In the threshing barn, grain from surrounding farmland, grown with manure from the downland sheep, was stored after harvest.  Through the winter it was then threshed, to separate the grain from the straw, by a labourer using a hand flail (a pair of wooden sticks joined by a leather hinge). 

The grain would be taken to the mill, and cattle fed on the straw as it was put out into the yard.  The side barn, which is now the Downs Barn, gave shelter from the rain for cattle, wooden carts, etc, and was also useful for calving and lambing.

The surviving side barn was no longer suitable for mechanical farming operations and so it was converted in 2008. As far as practical, natural and local materials were used, and the historic structure was kept visible inside.  The costs of converting and equipping the barn were assisted by a 15% grant from the Sustainable Development Fund of the South Downs Joint Committee (forerunner of the National Park Authority).  A round concrete lid near the north end of the barn is said to mark the site of the famous Sompting Treacle Mine.   More on this link