Activities on the Estate include the letting of farms, residential and commercial property, fishing and other country pursuits, farming, and forestry. Maintenance of the buildings on the Sussex Estates is by the in-house maintenance team. There are more than 20 let farms, a Home Shoot and seven let shoots on the rest of the Estate. There is also a commercial sand pit, a small Industrial Estate and other commercial premises, a number of coarse and trout lakes as well as river fishing and 280 cottages and houses. The Manor of Petworth has been held by the current owners who are descendents of the Percy family, since 1150. Today the Sussex Estate amounts to some 14,000 acres and consists of a number of let farms and a large stock of houses and cottages, mostly built in the 19th century to house estate staff. Petworth House and Park were given to the National Trust in 1947. The Estates were inherited by the present Lord Egremont, a writer, in 1972. He and his family still live in Petworth House which is open to the public 5 days a week during the summer. The Park is open to the public every day.
