Meet The Mildmay - White Family
Our Vision
The Family behind the estate
The Mildmay-White family’s connection to the Flete Estate spans generations, rooted in the unspoilt landscape of the Erme Estuary. Once a medieval barton within the manor of Battisborough, the estate has evolved slowly over centuries, shaped by farming, woodland management, and the life of the local communities. Mothecombe House, as it stands today, reflects this long tradition of continuity and care.
The family became closely linked to Flete in the late eighteenth century and have since maintained a thoughtful, long-term approach to managing the land, protecting woodland and shoreline, supporting local employment, and preserving the natural character of the valley. Their commitment to low intervention has helped safeguard one of the most intact tidal systems in the South West.
This stewardship extends into dedicated conservation work. Much of the woodland along the estuary is managed under high-level stewardship, with ongoing thinning, coppicing, and natural regeneration creating diverse habitat. The tidal reach supports rich bird life throughout the year, from overwintering waders to resident kingfishers, herons, and woodland species. More recently, the estate has installed osprey towers to provide nesting and stopover sites, reflecting the rise in osprey sightings on the Erme and the ambition to support their return as regular visitors
Today, John and Lily Mildmay-White (pictured above) lead the estate with their family, carrying forward the values of previous generations: caring for the land, strengthening its natural systems, and ensuring its resilience for the future.
Future Plans
"The estate remains open to new ideas and collaborations"
John and Lily Mildmay-White oversee the Flete Estate with a focus on building a resilient and forward-looking rural enterprise. Their aim is to balance financial health, ecological restoration, and social wellbeing, recognising that each is essential to the long-term stability of the estate. They are developing a model where multiple enterprises and land uses operate alongside one another in ways that reinforce the whole.
A central priority is supporting new and emerging businesses, helping young families to live and work locally, and providing spaces in which people can build sustainable livelihoods. This includes supporting the local shop and school, offering flexible work hubs, and enabling small enterprises to establish themselves on estate land. They see the estate as a place where enterprise, community life, and landscape stewardship can coexist.
The farming operation reflects these values. The estate runs a regenerative grazing system, finishing 100% grass-fed beef supplied through Farm Wilder and local box schemes. Cattle are mob grazed outdoors year-round on diverse herbal leys, improving soil health, carbon storage, and water retention. In Mothecombe Gardens a zero-spray policy now guides management, with a focus on working with natural processes and observing how the landscape responds. Mothecombe Gardens was voted RHS partner garden for the South West and Wales; a strong accolade to the teams hard work.
Across the estuary and woodland, restorative management continues. Alongside ongoing habitat work, the estate plans to expand species monitoring, improve wetland resilience, and strengthen riparian corridors so that wildlife can continue to thrive. The aim is to maintain the Erme Estuary as an exceptional example of a largely untouched coastal ecosystem.
The estate remains open to new ideas and collaboration—seeking projects, partnerships, and enterprises that contribute to a landscape and community that are stronger together than they would be alone.
Regenerative Farming
On The Flete Estate
At The Flete Estate, we believe that farming should work hand in hand with nature. Our focus is on regenerative agriculture, a method that actively improves biodiversity, enhances soil health, and builds resilience across the landscape. By farming in this way, we help protect the estate’s natural environment while producing food in a manner that respects wildlife and reduces our environmental footprint.
Our regenerative approach also makes the farm more robust in the face of growing challenges like climate change, extreme weather events, and market volatility. By eliminating reliance on chemical inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, and supplementary feeds, we reduce costs and improve the health of our soils, waterways, and pastures. This means we’re not at the mercy of fluctuating commodity prices or supply chain disruptions, and our system becomes more sustainable year after year.
We manage a 300-acre beef enterprise, using mob-grazing techniques where cattle are moved daily onto new pasture. This method mimics the way large herbivores move naturally across landscapes, fertilising the ground as they go and giving grasslands time to recover. The result is healthier soils, stronger root systems, and increased carbon sequestration, all while creating habitats for birds, insects, and other wildlife.
Our cattle are kept outdoors all year round, even through winter, which reduces stress on the animals and eliminates the need for winter housing and stored feed. This natural, pasture-fed lifestyle leads to healthier, happier livestock and contributes to the quality of the meat.