Try calling your local "tree dude" or talking to a local garden center. Brown needles can indicate branches that have been chewed by animals, like squirrels, or a blight, like Pine Beetle.

It could just be the tree needs more water or fertilizer as well!
Thanks for the help, SageMother. I took another wander around to look at them and it seems to be the higher branches it's affecting. We have loads of critters around here including squirrels, so it may well be them. I'll read up on the blight too.

We get plenty of rain, but I'll bet they've not been fertilized for years though. The people that lived here before used it as a summer home and were elderly.