Very few farmsteads were planned. They grew up randomly, usually around a farmyard, as need arose. Sometimes they were “modernised” with old buildings being demolished and a more rational layout introduced. But it was not until the eighteenth century tha the planned farmstead and the “model farm” appeared, with all the necessary buildings built in one go but even these were modified and had additions over the next two centuries. With the consolidation of farms into large “agri-business” estates many farmsteads are becoming derelict or are being made into museums or converted into “gated communities”.
