The Farm

Clifford Barton is a 180 acre mixed family farm in the steeply sloping, wooded valley of the River Teign. At one time it was much larger, as indicated by references in the Domesday Book. It was never part of a larger estate and is now a size typical of many family farms in this part of Devon

Until recently we ran a flock of 300 sheep and a beef unit but we no longer have any livestock. Besides 30 acres of woodland we farm about 100 acres of arable crops and have permanent grass for hay and grazing. The cottages, woodland and lake are diversification enterprises that help to make a farm of this size economic.

Long ago the fields were very small but by the time we came here 20 years ago many had been amalgamated; they are known by their old names, Whitelears, Broady Park and Bookham, and we have used some of these names for our cottages. To create the cottages we converted an old stone barn which is joined to the farmhouse. The barn originally housed farm workers and a cider press.

The farm sits just above the flood plain of the river and close to Fingle Gorge and Castle Drogo. It is an outstandingly beautiful area at all times of the year, particularly in the spring when the wild daffodils turn the river banks here and in the Steps Bridge Nature Reserve into 'daffodil valley'. For more information on the surrounding area please click here. There are many interesting walks, on the farm and locally, we are surrounded by National Trust land, and Dartmoor is on the doorstep.