Open Farm Sunday Success for Barleylands!
As a proud Tesco Farm to Fork Trail Partner, Barleylands Farm Park pulled out all the stops to create a memorable and hugely successful LEAF Open Farm Sunday on the 7th June 2015.
Over 1250 visitors enjoyed the sunshine and took the opportunity to find out more about where their food comes from at the farm.
Children came free to the farm park and were issued special passports. These were stamped for completing four activities; ‘Where does my jumper come from?’, ‘Where does my food come from?’, ‘Where does my breakfast come from’ and ‘Where is my food grown?’.
The activities involved youngsters rolling up their sleeves to make bread rolls, getting crafty to create pom pom sheep from wool, and taking a tractor ride. They then exchanged their passports for a goodie bag and freshly dug potatoes.
Owner Chris Philpot said “As a LEAF member we are delighted to support Open Farm Sunday. It is a great way of showing off what an excellent job British Farmers do in producing our food and protecting the countryside. We were extremely pleased to see so many visitors having a great time whilst they learnt more about food and farming”.
The Philpot family, who own Barleylands, have been at the forefront of educating children about where their food comes from, and how to use it, for over 30 years. During this time they have seen school children visitor numbers increase year on year to a point where they welcomed a record 12,500 children in 2014 with every visitor cooking a healthy snack from scratch.
The family farm 4,400 hectares in Essex and Suffolk growing among other things, wheat, oilseeds and potatoes.
As well as the Farm Park, Barleylands is also home to a Craft Village with regular Farmers Markets and a busy showground.
