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. 

Plan characteristics

• Regular plans are not a major characteristic of farmsteads of the High Weald. They generally date from the late 18th and 19th centuries and are strongly concentrated in landscapes enclosed and re-planned in the late 18th/19th centuries.
• Regular plans are more likely than other farmstead groups to have a multi-functional range of buildings for storage and processing rather than a barn.
• Some of the regular plans (particularly L-plans) may be derived from loose courtyards where a cattle shelter has been added to an earlier barn. Therefore, the number of true regular courtyard L-plans is likely to be lower than the figures suggest.
• The lowest proportion of pre-1750 farmstead buildings found on these farmstead types. Examples of whole farmsteads with regular plans which include older buildings, and thus result from piecemeal development rather than wholesale rebuilding, are rare.
• Regular courtyard farmsteads often display greater consistency in the use of materials and constructional detail. They are also more likely to use non-local materials such as Welsh slate for roofing.

Aerial flyover - Regular U-plan

Variants

• Regular plans range in scale from the L-plans typical of smaller farms (10% of recorded farmsteads) to the U-plans (less than 4%), 4-sided plans (less than 3%), E and F-shaped plans (less than 1%) associated with larger (over 150 acre) farms.
• Examples including covered yards and large 19th century cattle sheds (less than 1% of recorded examples) are most strongly associated with the western High Weald and larger estates.