The aim of site assessment is to ensure that an understanding of the inherited character of the farmstead informs approaches to future change that maintain and enhance the contribution that farmsteads make to local distinctiveness and landscape character.

It is useful at the earliest stage of the planning process in order to inform pre-application discussions with planners and identify the need for more detailed heritage work and investigation.

Much of the work can be done as a desk study using existing sources of information, and historic mapping which can highlight features to be explored further on site.The following aspects can be identified and mapped on a suitable base map.