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About Us

High View Farmstead is a 15 acre land nestled within the rolling hills of the South Downs run by Keivor and Laure as a family project. It is a space dedicated to exploring new ways of farming, eating and living.

We started High View Farmstead in 2020, after having both come to realise the many flaws in the current system we live in. Like many others, we felt a wrongness in our ways of life and intuitively knew that a better way of living was possible. We spent many walks thinking and questioning our current systems during the spring 2020. We realised that, collectively, the way we live, work, source our food, eat, take care of our health and interact with nature is damaged on a systematic level. We were inspired to create a better alternative. This is how, in the summer of 2020, we started looking for land with the family and found the most perfect piece of land 10 miles north of Brighton, in Streat. We both decided to give up our careers and committed to build High View Farmstead as a family project dedicated to exploring alternative ways of living, producing food, eating, reconnecting to nature and to other humans. We believe in following the best of traditional wisdom and innovation to guide us in this journey.

MISSION

We are transforming these 15 acres into a space to nurture the exploration of alternative ways of living and eating while rebuilding an ecosystem. Over the next few years, we will explore four questions.

Can we recreate a dynamic ecosystem?

The land has been used as a hay mono-crop for many years until we bought it. It has been sprayed with weed killers and fertilisers, damaging the biodiversity and soil health. Our goal is to restore the soil and biodiversity by creating an ecosystem with rewilded areas. To do that, we will be creating two wildlife ponds, planting native trees, growing wildflower meadows, planting hedgerows growing edible wild berries, installing bee hives and designing areas dedicated to an agronomic system based on trees, shrubs and perennial plants mixed in a way that mimics the structure of a natural forest while providing wild fruits and vegetables. In the future, we will introduce animals to our farm to complete the ecosystem.

Can we build a community and nurture meaningful human connection?

We are now disconnected as a community like never before. We want to try and reconnect people and build a sense of community, create a modern ‘village-like’ feeling, where we have a degree of collectiveness. We will open the land to events that nurture meaningful connections such as banquets, yoga classes and retreats, live music and picnic events. We will also be building our community through our compost scheme where members become a key to replenishing the vitality of the soil.

Can we experiment with a new way of farming?

We want to find out if it is possible to grow vegetables in an organic and regenerative way, while being profitable enough for growers to make a living and enough to feed the community. We will be exploring innovative ways to grow local regenerative food within the ecosystem while providing a livelihood for the next generation of farmers.

Can we support human health?

We aim to take a holistic approach to supporting health, especially focused on nutrition. We will be growing produce and raising animals in a regeneratively way to provide nutrient-dense food. We will also be growing medicinal herbs, mushrooms and berries as well as hosting nutrition workshops and banquets.