Bluebells in the wood at Lower Hawksfold
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Lower Hawksfold, Fernhurst

A working estate in the South Downs National Park

Fifty acres of woodland, fields and gardens. We make kindling from our own ash and let the cottage by the night.

Order kindling, £16.99Book the cottage
Lower Hawksfold

Hawksfold is 50 acres of woodland, fields and gardens in the South Downs National Park. It is our home first.

We are restoring the whole of it slowly: the house, the cottage and outbuildings, the woodland, the hedges and the fields. Two things pay for that care. We make kindling from our own ash, felled because of dieback and milled here. And we let the cottage, a 2-bed stone cottage at the end of the outbuilding range.

Kindling from our own ash

The kindling is ash from our own woodland. We fell it, mill it, split it and box it here.

  • 3kg minimum per box
  • Ready to Burn certified
  • Free UK delivery
Order a box£16.99a box, delivered

Stay on the estate

A 2-bed stone cottage at the end of the outbuilding range, with the woods behind it and the South Downs a short walk away.

  • Sleeps 4
  • Dogs welcome
  • Two-night minimum
  • Use of the estate walks
Check datesFrom £150a night

How the kindling is made

Every stick comes from ash we have had to fell because of dieback. No bought-in wood, ever.

  1. The tractor and timber trailer by the barn

    Felled

    Ash lost to dieback comes down and is brought in from the woodland.

  2. The sawmill in the barn, with ash logs on the bed

    Milled

    The logs are cut on our own mill, here on the estate.

  3. Split ash kindling sticks, close up

    Split and dried

    Split to sticks of around 20cm and air dried. Never kiln dried.

  4. A box of kindling, packed and open

    Boxed

    Packed into a 3kg box and posted anywhere in the UK, free.

Order a box, £16.99How we make it

Fifty acres, and what lives on them

Woodland, fields and gardens, and the animals that share them with us. Every photograph here was taken on the estate.

The estate
Lower Hawksfold seen across the field, with the wooded hills behind
Plate 1 Lower Hawksfold. The house from across the field
A tawny owl on a branch among leaves
Plate 2 Tawny owl
A roe doe in the long grass, looking straight at the camera
Plate 3 Roe deer. A doe at the edge of the wood
A red kite in flight, wings raised
Plate 4 Red kite. Over the fields
A firecrest perched on a twig
Plate 5 Firecrest

Tawny owl and firecrest by Shelby Grant, taken on the estate during a stay at the cottage and used with permission. The other photographs are our own.

Exploring from Hawksfold

All area guides

Midhurst & Cowdray

Tudor ruins, polo on summer Sundays, and one of the best small market towns in the south.

The nearest town

The South Downs Way

Pick up the national trail on Cocking Down and walk east or west along the roof of Sussex.

A national trail

The Serpent Trail heaths

Rare lowland heath at Iping and Stedham Commons, with churring nightjars on warm June evenings.

Nightjar country
The lane and the fields at Lower Hawksfold
The estate letter

What's moving on the estate

A short letter from Hawksfold, every month or so. We write when there is something worth telling, and never pass your address on.