Located just north of Cranbrook, Kent, in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, we work with a sustainable mentality and regenerative practices.
The farm landscape varies from permanent pasture to streams, ponds, woodlands, herbal grasslands and traditional Kentish oast houses. This gives us the most picturesque backdrop and excellent environment to develop healthy, happy, 100% grass-fed livestock.
Our ethos is that we believe in combining traditional values with the farming of native breeds to create the highest quality local produce while improving the environment around us.
The emotional rollercoaster and pleasure that comes from working with livestock is the driving force behind what we do. Sharing this privilege with the wider community is the cherry on top.
The British countryside, with its ever-changing weather, is the best place to spend one’s time. Different seasons provide an array of colours and tests, but agriculture is the most resilient and adaptable industry out there and one we are very proud to be part of.
Creating the most sustainable and environmentally friendly commercial farm, focusing on native and rare breeds with the highest welfare standards, has always been our aim.
Paley Farm’s herd of native Sussex cattle provides all the grass-fed beef we produce. They are 100% pasture-fed and are certified Pasture for Life, giving you the peace of mind that they have enjoyed the best natural diets for their entire lives. Working with solely Sussex cattle in harmony with nature allows us to achieve consistent taste, texture and excellent marbling in all our beef. All the grass-fed Sussex beef is hung on the bone for at least 28 days to develop a deep, rich flavour.
Our flock of grass-fed Easycare sheep produce the finest quality lamb and mutton. Until about 40 years ago, mutton was the most common form of sheep meat consumed in the UK, but now it has all but disappeared from the kitchen. However, we are very proud to offer this delicious meat from our 100% pasture-fed and certified Pasture for Life flock. If it is sweet and nutritious lamb or rich and delicious mutton you are looking for, there is a box waiting.
Paley pork comes from our Welsh & Saddleback sows crossed with a Tamworth boar. After several trials, we have found this cross results in distinctive, richly flavoured pork with great texture. The pigs’ outdoor lifestyle, foraging and grazing across the different landscapes of the farm, only enhances the flavours produced.
Our venison is provided by the wild herds of fallow and roe deer that travel around the farm. This wild, lean meat, produced from a diet of permanent pasture, herbal grasses, orchards, hedgerows and woodlands, is fantastically nutritious and full of flavour, and deserves to be the centrepiece of any meal.
Records indicate that Paley Farm dates back to the 1550s, when the original farmhouse was situated next to the stream. A water-driven corn mill was next door, until the turn of the 20th century, when it disappears from maps. The ‘new’ farmhouse was built in the 1780s.
Over the centuries, the land has been farmed for apples, pears, cherries, plums and arable crops, as well as being home to all kinds of livestock. Paley, with its two oast houses, also played an illustrious role during the heyday of Kentish hop picking, when caravans of gypsies plus over one thousand people from the East End of London would come to the farm for a working holiday.