Our roots run deep in southern Delaware

Brittingham Farms is a beautiful, working grain farm located West of Rt. 113 in Millsboro, Delaware offering visitors an undeniably unique farm experience. This farm was purchased in 1930 by Harold Mumford, and has been in the Mumford-Brittingham family since then. The Brittingham's have been located in Millsboro and Southern Delaware since the Revolutionary War, and many of our ancestors are buried in the local Revolutionary War cemetery near the farm. Our 350-acre grain farm may be small compared to other grain farms nearby, but we certainly make up for it in heart and soul.

The grim reality is small family owned grain farms are dwindling all over our region, but we are determined to make our best effort to reinvigorate our farm with new offerings to keep it current and viable. We are determined to educate our children and our community about the importance of preserving Delaware farm land and instilling an appreciation locally for our farming community. We are a teaching farm, and relish any chance to spread our love of the farm lifestyle to all who visit.

For 90 years these fields have been conventionally tilled, continually rotating through corn and soybeans on unirrigated land. In 2019, during the global pandemic, we decided to invest in 3 center pivots, bringing water to the farm for the first time. We also decided to change the whole trajectory of the farm with a name change from Mumford Farm to Brittingham Farms. Our goal was to further diversify our offerings and try something new. So, 4 generations in, we are now opening the farm up to the public for the very first time. Brittingham Farms will continue to adapt to stay current and relevant to todays cultural landscape. And so, our dream to diversify the farm and expand into agritourism took us on a beautiful journey to try a specialty crop like lavender.

Lavender has been used and enjoyed for hundreds of years, and it is an absolute delight to offer a large farm field of lavender for our on-farm patrons. With 7 different cultivars, and growing, we have planned the field with care to offer you an impressive field of purple all summer long. When deciding how lavender could possibly fit into an existing grain farm operation, we handle it as it were any other crop... and that is from a farming perspective. We have a large amount of essential oil varieties of lavender and have started an artisanal distillery operation, and will be distilling our own lavender essential oil and hydrosol that will be used to create candles, soaps, and beauty products among other items. Throughout the summer you can observe us harvesting, pruning, distilling or processing culinary buds while visiting the farm.

Another love of ours... our Leicester Longwool heritage breed sheep. George Washington was the first to bring the Leicester Longwool sheep over to the American Colonies prior to the Revolutionary War. He wrote about the Leicester's often in his farm journals at Mount Vernon and valued their very course, long curly wool which were used to make cloaks and bed blankets in early America. This breed is found at Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg today, as well as only 100 or so breeders across the United States, including our farm. We are very proud to be helping preserve this breed for the Livestock Conservancy. They are the only breed of sheep we will ever shepherd because of their historical impact, docile temperament and beautiful wool.

The essence of Brittingham Farms is an escape from the every day, to a place unlike anywhere else. When you visit you will get a genuine glimpse of what it takes to operate a farm. In our farm store you will find our own lavender essential oil and hydrosol, lavender products, our own farm grown yarn from our flock of lambs, raw fleeces and roving, local milk, cheese, eggs, and meats as well as beautiful garden and home gift items. Walk our lavender farm with a lavender flavored ice cream, and take a lavender plant home for your own yard. Our events section will keep you up to date on our classes, and special events for all things Lavender & Lambs.

We look forward to your visit to the farm, and hope you will find us as a great destination.... almost as if we were the "Provence of the Eastern Shore".

Many thanks and blessings,

The Brittingham Family