Holkham has a total of 25 tenanted farms, made up of approximately 6,100 hectares, plus 1850 hectares that is farmed 'in-hand' by the Holkham Farming Company.

The in-hand land is generally farmed on a rotation based around sugar beet and barley.

Wheat is grown on the better land along with break crops such as beans, peas and potatoes. The livestock enterprises consist of a herd of 150 suckler cows and a flock of 1,000 ewe lambs. All progeny from the suckler herd are fattened and butchered locally. The meat is then sold through Estate outlets such as The Victoria Hotel and The Globe Inn.

The Farming Company has a formal conservation policy, which is operated over all its farms. As part of the Common Agricultural Policy agri-environmental measures, the Estate is engaged on an enterprise to revert arable land to grassland within the Deer Park.

There are 710 hectares of woodland on the Estate, which are managed for amenity, shooting and commercial forestry, under the guiding principle of sustainability. A team of five foresters carries out all maintenance, planting, weeding and thinning.

Traditionally, agriculture and farm rentals have supported the Estate and the maintenance of the Hall and other properties. However, with costs of such maintenance increasing and the decline in farming profits, this is no longer the case. The Estate has diversified and, over the past 10 years, has adopted the policy of running its own businesses in-house, rather than renting out premises for others to do so.

For example, Pinewoods Holiday Park near Wells-next-the-Sea, which had been let to North Norfolk District Council for 60 years from 1926, is now run by the Estate and employs 50 people during the summer.

Additionally, there are two cafés, the Holkham Pottery, a gift shop and The Ancient House Gift Shop & Gallery in Holkham village. Our newest company, Holkham Linseed Paints, sells environmentally friendly, long-lasting paints.

The Estate owns and maintains more than 300 houses, which are let to people who live and work locally. In 2000, the Estate built six almshouses in the nearby village of Burnham Market, which are now occupied by retired Estate employees.

The Estate runs its own maintenance and property development companies, which are involved both in complex refurbishment projects on the Hall and the more mundane but essential repair and maintenance work on the Estate cottages.

The direct involvement in building work has brought with it business innovation. Windowcraft is an Estate department that has been established to reintroduce the practice of treating and painting wood with linseed oil and its derivatives as an alternative to modern, petro-chemical paints. The Estate has bought the distribution rights from a firm in Sweden and besides treating all Estate properties, this product is now sold all over Britain.