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Perching Sands Farmhouse

This building originated as a triple tenement cottage housing farm labourers and was used as such until Terry Willis purchased it in 1986. He reduced the cottages to ground level, modified the footings and rebuilt them as one house using as many of the original bricks and other materials as could be salvaged. As construction progressed old beams, doors, door frames and floorboards, all largely made of oak, were incorporated into the new building. He even placed a stone bearing the date 1856 that had previously been part of the original cottages on the front wall, giving the house an air of authenticity. A large, well established pond on the south side of the building was reduced to about half its size by filling around its circumference with hard-core. This was done in such a way that it still retained the appearance of the original pond.

A public footpath extending from the north end of Perching Drove runs through the large, picturesque front garden and from the back garden there are the most wonderful views west, across the Sussex Weald, to the ridge of the South Downs and Chanctonbury Ring. Watching the sunset from there is a truly magnificent sight.

Passage adapted from Anthony R. Brooks (2008) The Changing Times of Fulking & Edburton. Chichester: RPM Print & Design, pages 189-190.