Shipley · Horsham · West Sussex
A five-pitch Certificated Location on a working Sussex farm
Five pitches at the quiet end of a 250-acre family farm, five miles south of Horsham. Open all year, with hard standing and electric hook-up, for members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club.
The site at a glance
- Five pitches A Caravan and Motorhome Club Certificated Location, so never more than five vans at a time.
- Open all year Four of the five pitches have hard standing as well as grass, so vans are taken through the winter.
- Hook-up on every pitch All five pitches have their own electric hook-up. The shower block has a shower, toilet, laundry and washing-up.
- Dogs welcome Pets are welcome, with public footpaths and bridleways running straight off the farm.
- Club members only A Certificated Location is open to members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Joining is straightforward.
The campsite
Room for five vans, and nothing else
A Certificated Location is a small site licensed by the Caravan and Motorhome Club for no more than five caravans or motorhomes. It is the quietest kind of pitch there is: no rows, no entertainment, no arrival queue. Just a field on a farm, and four other vans at most.
Ours is set up for touring caravans and motorhomes. Four of the five pitches have hard standing as well as grass, every pitch has its own electric hook-up, and the shower block has a shower, a toilet, laundry and washing-up facilities. There is a farm shop on site selling our own eggs and honey alongside homemade marmalade and cakes.
The full campsite detail covers pitch sizes, facilities, the rules that come with Club membership and what to expect at each time of year.
The farm
250 acres, and a proper farming year
This is a working farm before it is anything else. A pedigree herd of Sussex cattle and a small flock of sheep supply prime beef and lamb to local butchers and farmers' markets, and the year runs to their calendar rather than a holiday one.
Lambing and calving both start at the end of March. The bull goes out in June. Lambs are weaned in September and the cattle come back into the yards in October or November. Stay in a different month and you are staying on a different farm.
Ten years in Countryside Stewardship and now in Higher Level Stewardship have put 800 metres of new hedgerow in the ground and left uncultivated margins on every arable field. RSPB volunteers have surveyed the birds here twice. The farm page sets out the farming year and the conservation work in full.
Where the name comes from
1604A woman called Ann Goff lived here, and the farm still carries her name
Records show Ann Goff living at this farm in 1604. Four centuries later the house she lived in is still standing, Grade II listed, weatherboarded and tiled, and it is the first thing you see when you come down the drive.
Metal detectorists working the fields have turned up Elizabethan hammered silver, Roman coins, and the thimbles worn by women gleaning the last ears of corn out of the stubble. The land belongs to the Burrell family of Knepp Castle; the Livertons are the tenants, and have been since 1985.
The history page follows the farm from Ann Goff through the dairy years, the 1980 EEC scheme that sold the milking herd, the 1999 milk price collapse and the pedigree Sussex herd that started in 2003.
What is nearby
Three pubs you can walk to, and the most famous rewilding project in Britain up the road
Public footpaths and bridleways cross the farm in several directions, and one of them takes you to a pub.
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The George and Dragon, the Selsey Arms and the Countryman
On foot
Three pubs within walking distance, one of them reached by a footpath through the farm.
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Knepp Wildland
The landlord's estate
The Burrell family's rewilding project at West Grinstead, and the reason storks nest in this part of Sussex again.
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Shipley Windmill
Shipley
The village smock mill, a landmark on this stretch of the Weald.
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The South Downs and the Sussex coast
About 20 minutes
The National Park escarpment and the sea, both an easy drive south.
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Horsham
5 miles
The nearest town, with trains to London and Gatwick. Gatwick itself is about 30 minutes by car.
How to book
Ring Carol or David, or send us your dates
There is no online booking here. Tell us when you would like to come and what you are bringing, and we will tell you what we have. You will need to be a member of the Caravan and Motorhome Club to stay.