South East Winners & Finalists 2018/19
Congratulations to all our winners, runners up and finalists! Following a wonderful night at the Denbies Wine Estate, Surrey, we are now able to reveal exactly who our judges thought were the best and brightest rural businesses in our South East region.
We hope that all of our finalists enjoyed themselves at our celebration of everything that makes rural Britain unique. Whether they won or not, they should be incredibly proud of themselves and all they have achieved.
Scroll down to view our winners or click on the link to jump to a category.
Best Rural Start Up


Made for Drink
Berkshire


The Courtyard at Wainhill
Oxfordshire

Countrybike Ltd
Kent

Home Move Consultants
Oxfordshire

Konzepts Ltd.
East Sussex
Outstanding Rural Diversification Project


The Little Grey Sheep
Hampshire


Peterley Manor Farm
Buckinghamshire

Bluebell Walk Partnership
East Sussex

Boycott Farm
Buckinghamshire

Romney Marsh Wools
Kent
Best Rural Retail Business


Clipstone Dairy
Buckinghamshire


Hambledon Village Shop
Surrey

Charlie's Farm Shop
West Sussex

Middle Barton Stores
Oxfordshire

The Leveret
Buckinghamshire
Best Rural Manufacturing Business


English Heritage Buildings LLP
East Sussex


Benchmark Furniture
Berkshire

Dudda's Tun Cider
Kent

Equetech
Buckinghamshire

Kent Crisps
Kent

The Great British Porridge Co.
West Sussex
Best Rural Professional Services Business


Moorhouse Communications
Surrey


Bloomfields
Kent

Batcheller Monkhouse
East Sussex

Kelly Chandler Wedding Consulting
Surrey

Kent Design Studio Ltd
Kent
Best Rural Creative or Media-based Business


House of Grayling
Oxfordshire


The Toad Hall Company
Kent

Illustrations & Prints
Surrey

Konzepts Ltd.
East Sussex

Rachel Hudson Illustration
Hampshire


Barham Village Store
Kent


Plunkett Foundation
Oxfordshire

Hugs4Lungs
Kent

Our Kitchen
Kent

St Giles Trust
London
Best Rural Tourism Business


Wallops Wood Cottages
Hampshire


Odds Farm Park
Buckinghamshire

Hill Farm and Orchard
Buckinghamshire

Independent Cottages
Kent

The Hub
East Sussex
Best Rural Recreational or Outdoor Pursuits Business


E.J. Churchill Shooting Ground
Buckinghamshire


Burley Villa School of Riding
Hampshire

Oxford Farm Fit
Oxfordshire

Unique Outdoors
Berkshire
Best Rural Education or Training Business


Manor House Forest School
Kent


Sheep Proof Your Dog t/a T D L Bird
Kent

Royal Forestry Society
Oxfordshire

Weald & Downland Living Museum
West Sussex
Best Rural Food Business


Holwood Farm
Kent


Trenchmore Farm
West Sussex

Bit Spicy
Kent

Bradmoor Farm Shop & Cafe
Buckinghamshire
Best Rural Drink Business


Greensand Ridge Distillery
Kent


Bluebell Vineyard
East Sussex

CHAFOR Wine Estate
Buckinghamshire

Dancing Cows Distillery and Brewhouse
Hampshire

Hattingley Valley
Hampshire
Rural Employee of the Year


Kathy Budgen
Rural Kent

Sally Powell
St Giles Trust
The South East
‘The Garden of England’ lives up to its name with lush rolling farmland and fruit-laded orchards. Encompassing the iconic sights of the White Cliffs of Dover, the ‘Dreaming Spires’ of Oxford and not one but two National Parks, the South East is the UK’s sunniest region. Fast becoming the country’s premier wine region, the South East is also leading the way with an abundance of rural businesses.
The South East covers rural businesses in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Greater London, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey & West Sussex.
Brand Ambassadors for the South East
Our Regional Brand Ambassadors work with us to understand and communicate with the rural businesses operating within their region, helping us to achieve our vision of bringing together businesses in each region to celebrate success and build valuable relationships amongst rural business owners.

Amanda Parsons
Landmark Systems
Landmark Systems Limited develops, supplies and supports rural business software. It was started in 1987 and one of its founders, Nigel Parsons, is Managing Director today. Nigel has a career background in sales and marketing but his life has always been intertwined with farming businesses and he met his wife, Sussex RBA Ambassador Amanda Parsons, when they were both studying Agricultural Marketing and Business Administration at Harper Adams.
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They are the third generation to live in the farmhouse originally bought by Amanda’s family in 1921 to take advantage of the Wealden Clay soil, so suited to grass fed dairy cows, and the expanding market for milk provided by the “milk trains” from Sussex to London.
Amanda started her career in London as the NFU Information Division’s Assistant Press Officer in the early eighties when stubble burning, increasing Commodity Mountains and escalation of UK CAP contributions were big issues for farming leaders of the day. She has also worked in the fresh produce sector for a Sussex subsidiary of Hazlewood Foods and has been involved in marketing projects in Landmark throughout its thirty years of trading.
She works part-time but closely with the Landmark Managers who are individually responsible for Development, Sales, Training, Support and Administration. They aim to inform, innovate for and maintain the comprehensive professional service provided to the myriad of UK farm, estate and property offices who rely on KEYPrime software for accurate, secure and live information records on which to base their business decisions.
SOME FACTS ABOUT LANDMARK:
- Software installed in over 2,500 land and property related sites in England, Wales and Scotland
- UK Head Office Pulborough, West Sussex
- 45 Full Time or Part-Time Employees
- Regional Field Sales and Training team – on-site customer care
- Fully supported own brand KEYPrime Accounting and Budgeting Software
- Fully supported own brand KEYPrime Property Management Software
- Hardware advice, supply and technical support
- Hosted Cloud Platform
- Fully Automated software updates and data back-ups
- Suppliers of Payroll and Geofolia Crop Management software
- Since 2015 part of the ISAGRI Farm Management Software Group
PRODUCT RANGE
Landmark has a product range which goes from entry level accounting software product KEYPrime Intro for the smaller and more traditional farm businesses through to the sophisticated KEYPrime Advanced and Client Accounting products for the more diversified farm, rural or estate business. Additionally the range of property software, introduced in 2000, contributed significantly to the growth of Landmark as it addressed the trend in the rural sector of diversifying into property management with a unique link between rural accounting and property management software. KEYPrime Property software is used both by individual clients and professionals on behalf of their clients and can be bought incrementally according to the business size.
Building long-term relationships is the cornerstone of the Landmark service offering, as the next generation succeed and expect ‘Smart’ integrated technology solutions in every aspect of their business. The introduction of a hosted software solution called NEWAge Prime has enabled more simultaneous remote working as suits the scattered nature of the rural marketplace, a new link is on offer between KEYPrime and Geofolia and the development team are working hard on Making Tax Digital (MTD) features ahead of the digital uploading of VAT and Income Tax.
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