About Fairlight Farm
Set in an Area Of Outstanding Beauty in the West Sussex countryside,
Mentioned (as the original dwelling) in the Domesday Book as - Ferlega: belonging to - Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (c.1031–1090) who was a Norman nobleman and the uterine half-brother of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings and as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 and was one of the greatest landholders in his half-brother's new Kingdom of England..
In its present guise, Fairlight Farm is a Grade II listed building, dating back between 500-700 years, with various additions during that time. Originally built as a Coaching Inn (on the main Lewes to Tunbridge Wells route), it boasts a secret tunnel into the woods (probably for smugglers) and a Priest hole, high in the chimney – Where some religious artifacts were found hidden, during essential repair works in the last century.
During John Cranston’s ownership of East Court (c.1841) he also purchased Fairlight Farm, to add to his impressive property portfolio.
More recently (1940), the house was owned by Gay Levesley , who was instrumental in founding Dorothy Perkins, so named after her favourite rose growing in the gardens of Fairlight.
Fairlight Farm hosts .