The Downs Barn
The Downs Barn is an Environment Education Centre in the heart of the Sussex Downs, at the narrowest point of the South Downs National Park, between Worthing and Steyning.
The Downs Barn belongs to the Sompting Estate who use it for farming and conservation activities as well as hiring it out for courses and meetings. You can explore the story and life of this beautiful downland on Courses and events at the Downs Barn, and also through the information, pictures and links you will find on this website, using the Contents menu on the left.
The South Downs National Park aims to protect and support a beautiful man-made landscape which has been created by, and will always need, a vibrant mixed farming and rural economy.
The Park's wildlife and landscape depend on a varied mix of livestock and arable farm land management (not just grassland). These environmental benefits are mainly provided by private commercial farm businesses, with support from agri-environment payments, grants and professional advice.
Exploring and learning about the South Downs
The Park's land continues to be owned and managed mainly privately by the farming families who with their predecessors helped to create its special character. Access for the public is increasingly well provided: some areas are Open Access, and there is an excellent Rights of Way network.
Courses at the Downs Barn often include guided walks into otherwise private wildlife areas on the Sompting Estate. Like the houses gardens and other business properties in the Park area, farmland that is not designated for public access remains private, and these less-disturbed areas are important for livestock protection and invaluable for ground-nesting birds and other wildlife. Land managers are increasingly offering more guided access opportunities to these areas, at appropriate times for the farming and wildlife.