Barleylands Farm Park turns 40
Barleylands, which opened to the public in 1984, currently clocks up 150,000 visitors a year.
Since opening, the business, owned by the Philpot family, has expanded to include venue and showground hire, a craft village, horse livery, campsite, and most recently Football Golf!
Alongside expansion, Barleylands is keen to retain its core values of bridging the gap between farming and the public.
The farm is home to an array of farm animals along with a reptile and birds of prey centre, and is an approved Rare Breeds Farm Park recognised by the RBST. All this makes the farm a great destination for families and schools.
The farm museum, named “the Discovery Centre” tells the story of farming over the years through interactive educational displays and vintage machinery. Peter Philpot started collecting agricultural machinery in 1976, and when the farm centre opened in 1984, his vision was for the museum to provide a focal point for schools.
Peter Philpot, owner of Barleylands said “It was 40 years ago that my son Stuart, cut the ribbon opening the museum to educate children how farming was carried out from the turn of the century. Some of the machines have some very inventive ideas which have been carried through and are still being used in our modern farming system. On opening day there were over 6,000 items, the best ones are still in the Discovery Centre today. Over the years thousands of children have visited the Discovery Centre and been educated how farming was done over the years”.
Education is a vital part of Barleylands, and their education programme welcomes over 20,000 children a year, with schools visiting from Essex and East London.
Paula Groves, Education Officer at Barleylands, said:
“There is a big focus on STEM education, and we tailor-make days to support different subjects in the curriculum from geography, maths, history, literacy and science up to Key Stage 3. All our visits are planned to suit the needs of our visiting schools, and facilitated by our dedicated team”.
“We love to be creative and enjoy the challenge of bringing food and farming into any topic, which has brought schools back year after year. With such a disconnect between our food and where it comes from, we are a great choice for school visits”
Karen Watson who has worked on the education programme for 14 years said:
“The growth of education is full credit to the team who make it such an immersive and interesting learning experience for children of different ages.”
“There is nothing more satisfying than seeing happy children having a wonderful time learning where their food comes from, having fun cooking at the farm and getting their hands into flour, having learned how it is produced”.
