Dispersed plans comprise loose clusters of buildings with no evidence for formal planning and often no clear principal yard area. Around one third of High Weald farmsteads have developed as dispersed plans. The highest proportion of early pre-1750 buildings survive on dispersed plans and their variants, and they will contain important historical evidence for the development of farmsteads.

Loose Courtyard Plans are a major characteristic of High Weald farmsteads, representing 45% of mapped farmsteads. They comprise farmsteads whose working buildings - primarily the barn and cattle housing - are focused on a cattle yard, with buildings on one or more sides. Some of these plans may have developed from earlier Dispersed Cluster plans.

These comprise farmsteads dominated by a regular arrangement of linked buildings, often of a single build, around yards. Regular courtyard elements may also be found as elements of dispersed multi-yard and driftway plans.

Row Plans comprise long ranges of buildings, often with a series of separate yards. Some larger examples consist of two rows of buildings lying parallel to each other. A high proportion of Row Plans contain buildings of pre-1750 date, and may represent the gradual accretion of buildings in line with an early building or reflect particular topographical constraints.

These plan types are rare in the High Weald and represent less than 1% of recorded farmsteads. These are the plan types most difficult to identify from historic mapping, as they are typically associated with small farmsteads.  They can include early surviving buildings or may be later farmsteads developed in areas of poorer soils such as heathland areas. Most farmsteads of this plan type have been removed from agriculture.