"Combe" is well-known as indicating a valley and it is thought that Oc may mean Oak so that the name Occombe would mean valley of the oaks. In the past Occombe was part of Marldon which from Saxon times was included in the parish and feudal manor of Paignton. The earliest documentary evidence of this manor is its entry in the Domesday Book, where it is shown to have been held by the Bishops of Exeter since 1050 A.D. and possibly earlier. A length of well-worn wall along the Occombe-Cockington border is still known locally as "The Bishop's Wall", and maybe part of an original boundary wall marking the limit of the Bishop's manor of Paignton.

Early in the 16th century Henry VIII's quarrel with the Pope resulted in the confiscation by the Crown of much church property. The manor of Paignton did not escape the notice of the Royal Commisssioners, and in 1547 Bishop John Vesey of Exeter was required to convey it to Sir Thomas Speke. The Manor changed hands several times before in 1644 it passed to Sir Henry Cary of Cockington for the price of £535. The land included "two tenements with the appurtenances in Occombe… in the tenure of Ellis Phillips the elder and George Phillips." At the beginning of the 18th century, Robert Butland of Paignton, a yeoman, acquired considerable property in Preston to the east of Paignton and by 1780 the Butlands had replaced the Phillips at Occombe.

In the Land Tax Assessments for 1798 the property is identified as "Part of Phillips Occombe". Robert Butland is shown as occupying the property himself; probably a small, thatched building. His descendants owned it and often lived in it, for some 140 years, finally rebuilding it as the present Occombe House. In 1910 Robert Butland IV inherited Preston House and Occombe was let; but ten years later it was sold to Mr Paris Singer who lived at Oldway Mansion and, until the outbreak of war in 1939, it was occupied by his son. The house which is across the road from the farm is now a Torbay Council Residential Centre.

Fierce arguments raged over the golf course proposals and how to shoe horn 18 holes around the protected nature reserve. Eventually the plans were shelved in 1995 and the Council agreed that the site would become a Country Park like Cockington and Berry Head. However, after the Trust was formed in 1999 it was recognised that Occombe was a farm rather than a Country Park and the idea of opening it to the public and educating people about food and farming took shape. In 2001 the tenant on the farm retired and the Trust decided to take the farm back in hand in order to realise its aims to establish a demonstration farm at Occombe.

A neighbouring farmer was used for the 2002 and 2003 seasons to graze the farm. During this period the farm was converted to an organic farm, gaining this status from The Soil Association in September 2003. In 2003 the Trust also erected new farm buildings and in 2004 purchased its own herd of cattle. At the same time the farm was entered into the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. Included in the Scheme was a programme of growing some crops on designated arable fields, leaving winter stubbles as a vital food source for birds such as the rare Cirl Bunting, extensive grazing, hedge-laying and fencing works.