Introduction
On the 17th of January 2020, Northiam Parish Council finally succeeded in completing the purchase of St.Francis Fields, Northiam, East Sussex, a thirty-four-acre site located centrally to the village, formerly owned by the Blue Cross Animal Welfare Charity. This demonstrated an amazing amount of forethought and tenacity against all the odds, to secure for the Village a unique green space for us and future generations to enjoy.
With the current appetite across the country for mass house building, this achievement can not be underestimated, especially as here also, loomed the distinct possibility of St.Francis Fields playing host to a major house builder's desire to site 125 new housing units here.
Back in the 1950's Miss Kitty Comport whose family had been extremely well-respected craftsmen within the village, (which unexpectedly included businesses that made coffins and fine quality hop tokens), gave a large portion of the land that is now St.Francis Fields to the 'Our Dumb Friends League' rescue charity, with the only stipulation being that she always wanted to see the rescued horses and donkeys from the bedroom window of her house on Main Street.
The project has been designed with more than a nod toward Kitty and the Comport family because as you will find out, it has been designed around the time of Kitty's childhood in Northiam.....and through the endeavours of the project proposal, I'm sure she would very much approve of the sight of her beloved horses in the field below her bedroom window.
The challenge for St.Francis Fields now lies in the ability to create imaginative ways to generate sufficient revenue, to become not only financially sustainable and profitable but to do so in such a way as to work in harmony with its surroundings and preserve its natural beauty, while at the same time involving and benefiting the local community and serving Parish needs.
The project has been designed voluntarily by someone who was born in Northiam and therefore has always cared very deeply for the welfare and preservation of its village life.
In 2007 he and his wife chose to return to the village to bring up their young family.......and some other animals !!!..... and continue to enjoy being part of village life to this day.
Within the following pages of the proposal, you will find all the benefits that the project has to offer to the local community and hopefully answers to questions that any project of this nature invariably raises.
If successful, and then welcomed by the Village at this stage, it would provide a clearly mandated path forward enabling the Lost England Project to work alongside Northiam Parish Council and the Community Interest Company to further investigate funding opportunities and planning avenues.
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