Did home farms pay? The performance of theStratfield Saye estate home farm and its local peersin the early twentieth century

While the role of the home farm on great agricultural estates has been recognized by historians, few have examined it in especial detail. Surviving records for the home farm at the Duke of Wellington’s Stratfield Saye estate in Hampshire reveal that it went through a lengthy period of renewal and redirection in the wake of the agricultural depression of the late nineteenth century, shifting away from dependence on arable farming to focus on livestock breeding. A financially successful period was disrupted by the Great War and the need to meet Government regulations for increased arable output. It weathered the post-war financial slump by reinventing itself as a dairy producer. These changes, overseen by an experienced and innovative land agent, enabled home farm to sustain itself as a farming business, helped by other sources of income from letting grazing rights and haulage services. During the inter war period it performed better in financial terms than home farms on nearby estates, where not all survived as estate businesses.