Farm and Garden

The farm has been developed with educational aims in mind and includes a wide variety of small scale, agricultural enterprises with simple traditional methods so that children can see and learn about farming and where their food comes from in an easy and safe way.  Children are encouraged to plant and grow their own vegetables and harvest them to take to the Out of Town Centre kitchen to use in the cooking of their meals.  

On the farm we have dairy cows, goats, sheep, pigs, forest ponies, ferrets, laying hens, turkeys, geese and ducks.  We believe in promoting a safe hands-on experience which can include goat milking, egg collecting, feeding and watering the animals, bringing the cows home and mucking the pigs out too!

Visiting groups can enjoy a wide range of activities and your visit can be as general or as specific as you need it to be.  Our converted Victorian pigsties provide an excellent indoor learning space.  Wellington boots are usually required for a visit in most seasons.  

Our garden has been developed as an educational and therapeutic resource for both day visit and residential groups.  It displays ornamental and herb gardens as well as extensive vegetable plots and a heated glasshouse to illustrate protected culture.  Our purpose built Garden Room provides an excellent classroom for “dirty” hands-on gardening/farming activities such as life processes, living things and sustainable development.  Broader educational interests are also catered for such as soil studies, composting, food production and gardening.

The garden also contains our Field Kitchen comprising fire pit and mud ovens for outdoor cookery and barn roof which gives perfect shelter for indoor/outdoor campfire activities.