Lees Court Crops.

Significant work has been put into formulating specific products, testing them in a German laboratory and comparing them with the leading commercial brands on the market.

In 2001 The Countess Sondes was looking for ways to create new sources of income. Concerned about the state of farming in Britain and the cycles of profitability over the last decade, and keen to find a way of adding value to this sector, The Countess Sondes decided to take a risk and explore new avenues of revenue.

The Government is giving widespread encouragement to farmers to both diversify their business to generate alternative sources of income and to effectively market UK farming.

Lees Court has grown a range of Non Food Crops and is looking at further ways of adding value by way of a vertical integration strategy through Lees Court Crops, the entity that has been set up to oversee its commercialisation. The selected crops will provide a stable, sustainable and renewable source of seed oils to be used primarily in skin care – both cosmetic and dermatological.

The first step has been to retain a leading professor, Keith Coupland who specialises in the science of plant lipids to help select the appropriate crops to study. He has conducted fundamental research on behalf of Lees Court Crops that has led to two key patents being developed. These are focused on creating synergistic combinations of plant lipids, containing essential fatty acids that lead to collagen stimulation and sirtuin gene expression.

Lees Court Crops has invested in protecting its Intellectual Property through a comprehensive patenting process. This is on-going.

Lees Court Crops also works closely with two extraction facilities, CO2 Extractions and New Holland Extractions.