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THE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED MORE ON THIS VISIT THAN IN A YEAR IN THE CLASSROOM. THEY ARE FULLY ENGAGED AND CHILDREN WHO HAVE COMPLEX NEEDS HAVE THRIVED.”
Farms for City Children exists to remove the barriers that prevent children and young people having meaningful access to the natural world. Through our food, farming, and nature-connected wellbeing offer, we strive to empower the next generation to experience the physical and mental health benefits of being in the countryside, and to see themselves as the custodians of our landscape for generations to come.
During an immersive five-day residential stay on one of our stunning heritage farms in Devon, Gloucestershire, or Pembrokeshire, children and young people participate in seasonal farming tasks alongside experienced farm teams and partner farmers.
A holistic offer of outdoor education activities, with a strong focus on climate and sustainability, plus the personal and social developments made through profound connections with classmates and accompanying adults, combines with the health and wellbeing benefits of sustained physical activity and consumption of nutritious, locally produced and homecooked food grown and prepared by the children themselves.
This results in a nurtured and empowered young person, ready to return to school and home with new grit, growth mindset, and a set of valuable transferable life skills.
We want children and young people to feel a momentous connection to nature, a sense of their own social and moral responsibility to be stewards of our planet, and an emerging feeling of agency in visualising a future for themselves that involves remaining in contact with the countryside and nature beyond their visit.
Teachers and youth workers report that the impact on them is just as life-changing. Many will experience the week with the same wide-eyed wonder as their young people, having also been denied access to the countryside in this way throughout their own lives. Feedback tells us that the week stimulates bonds between the young people and the accompanying adults that endure in the classroom upon return to school. Others report significant changes to behaviour, emotional reactions, and levels of confidence and engagement. Teachers tell us that children are more curious, courageous, and compassionate because of the week on the farm, and that these character developments permeate the school and family setting when children return home.
Operating now for 52 weeks a year, in school term and non-term weeks, and subsidising the visits at 50% of the true cost of the week on the farm, we support over 3,000 young people each year to connect meaningfully with the natural world.
We are determined to keep fighting for this equity of access to obliterate the poverty of experience that is currently defining childhood for many millions of children living in the UK.
Days start early on our immersive fiveday residential and, whilst the cycle of the seasons and vagaries of the weather ensure that each day is different, there is a reassuring routine and structure to life on the farm.
A combination of physical farm tasks in compassionately tending to the animals and their welfare and maintaining the farms, is combined with sowing, harvesting, and cooking tasks that anchor the young person to an understanding of the field > farm > fork journey. This improves food choices, increases the consumption of fresh, locally produced meat, fruit, and vegetables, which can help young people to develop longer term commitments to leading a healthier life.
A renewed focus on nature - nurture is delivered through wellbeing activities to induce greater nature-connectedness from long biodiversity walks, birdwatching on the coast and the riverside, beekeeping sessions, sustainable arts and crafts, mindfulness sessions, storytelling, poetry, and astronomy. Collaborating on tasks never before attempted develops courage, confidence and curiosity.
Children and young people learn to be mindful, empathetic, and to notice their environment. They learn to take responsibility for themselves, each other, and work in harmony with the animals and the land. Free from digital intrusion, their analogue imaginations are liberated, and they enjoy mental health respite from the pressures of a life lived online.
Being on the farm gives each child or young person that space to just be. With reduced stress levels, increased freedom and more meaningful interactions and connections, young people return home having developed greater resilience and attained an enormous sense of pride as a result of being a “Farmer for a Week.”
Farms for City Children knows that our residential empowers active citizenship in our young people. Alumni contact us to report that their relationship with nature has been sustained from their visit on the farm as a child into adulthood. We know that the impact of providing these experiences in childhood
means that we will give young people the agency to deal with the climate emergency and the loss of biodiversity. We are supporting them to ‘grow up greener’ and contribute to a sustainable future economy.
In the short term, we know that children and young people return happy and fulfilled, walking a little taller with knowledge, skills, and expertise that they did not have when they set off from home. They will never forget the memories they made, the relationships they cultivated, or the way that they felt about themselves as they flourished through a week of “muck and magic” at Farms for City Children.
A unique and immersive life experience
Increased physical activity and healthy lifestyle
Improved connections and social interactions
Improved mental health and wellbeing
Reduced reliance on technology
Enhanced sense of environmental citizenship
Meaningful responsibilities and acts of service
Embedding curriculum learning in real life situations
Powerful new sensory experiences
A nurturing home from home environment
Multiple studies assert that experiencing learning outside of a classroom setting enhances the way that a young person engages. Outdoor learning gives children and young people practical experience of curriculum subjects, and enables them to make vital connections between their lessons and real life scenarios. The breadth, depth, and variety of farming tasks and wellbeing activities during the immersive residential visit, support a school’s commitment to improving student engagement, progress, and attainment.
Children exposed to nature score higher on concentration and self-discipline, have greater developed awareness, reasoning and noticing skills, work better collaboratively in teams and show higher levels of empathy and compassion. Time on the farm builds resilience and develops a growth mindset as young people encounter completely new challenges that test their perseverance to the limit. The transferable lifeskills gained from this week can be leveraged upon return to the classroom environment for months to come.
From applying literacy and numeracy knowledge to real-work problems, to seeing practical applications of STEAM subject knowledge in tasks across the farm, children and young people gain
an introduction to the world of work through hands on activities where they are responsible for the livestock and each other. They discover aptitudes and talents they did not know they had, and they begin to visualise a future for themselves in employment.
One in six children aged five to sixteen were identified as having a probable mental health issue in July 2021; a huge increase from one in nine in 2017. That’s five children in every classroom.
Children and young people, and the teachers who care for them, need the opportunity to come together outside of the classroom and invest in health, wellbeing, and relationships. The self-esteem built from conquering challenging farm tasks is complemented by the space to be during nature sessions on coastal or biodiversity walks, in natural arts, and crafts or from mindfulness sessions together.
The chance to play in nature, to build dens, turn wood, build campfires, and tell stories, offers both the children and their teachers a time to decompress from the stresses of life. Reducing the reliance on technology, and living off grid, liberates the analogue imaginations so that children and their teachers talk to each other, invent games, share discoveries and build connections that change behaviour and engagement upon return to school.
Most of our pupils have been together since nursery, and as such, friendship groups were formed and rarely strayed from despite encouragement. Being in a situation where they had to rely on and work with people outside of their usual social circle has had a huge impact on how the children interact with each other.
Whetstone Field Primary School, Nethercott House
Out of 14 nations surveyed, the UK ranks bottom in Europe for nature-connectedness and wellbeing. Evidence shows that people with high levels of nature connectedness enjoy better mental health and are far more likely to live their lives in a more environmentally responsible way. A week at Farms for City Children explicitly teaches young people and their teachers how to be the future stewards of the countryside and how to connect more meaningfully with nature as it exists in their home locations.
Learning about sustainable farming and its links to climate protection, about biodiversity and securing species and habitats, and linking children and young people to where their food comes from, is a key outcome of the work of the charity. Growing, harvesting, preparing, and cooking their own
food improves children’s food choices, increases consumption of locally sourced fresh products and highlights the benefits for health around good eating habits. With so many of our children living with food insecurity, there has never been a more important time to connect them to the provenance of what they eat.
With schools now being asked to examine their teaching of climate and sustainability in the classroom, the immersive experience of life on the farm can provide compelling and enduring memories that empower young people to be the advocates for their planet tomorrow. Children return with a powerful sense of agency, seeing themselves as the change they want to see in the world, knowing that even back in the city there are choices they can make to protect our planet.
Since returning I have seen a huge improvement in their cohesion...
“In the past, children in the class had experienced friendship related issues and divides in the class. During the trip the children bonded and made friendships with lots of different children. Since returning, I have seen a huge improvement in their cohesion, as well as other staff commenting on their teamwork.”
St Peters, Hammersmith Lower TreginnisThis experience has connected the dots.
“Our children would never have experienced the connections between themselves, the environment, their actions towards it and its impact upon them. This experience has connected the dots.”
Weston Mill, Plymouth Nethercott House
“The children have been able to experience farm life first-hand, which has deepened their understanding of farming and coastal communities. They can see where their food comes from, and how much hard work goes into growing and cultivating it. Being based on the farm has also enabled children to recall farming communities in their parents’ and grandparents’ home countries; this is something we didn’t foresee, and it enabled the children to draw interesting comparisons.”
Pembroke Dock Community School, Pembroke Dock Lower Treginnis
“I have been leading residentials for 30 years and visited many different places with groups of children. I have never been on a residential which has had such an amazing impact on the children.
One of my children with complex special education needs, has grown hugely in confidence, spoken aloud in front of a group for the first time and has really found something that she is genuinely good at. This has not only boosted her confidence and self-esteem, but it also means that the other children view and treat her differently. She has her own talents which are not the same as theirs, but now they are visible and she is glowing.
One of my boys who has an autism diagnosis is a genuinely different child this week. His anxiety has melted away. He has communicated with the adults and his peers, and I have never seen him so happy.”
“The children were able to explain the importance of sustainability, whilst developing an awareness of the vital role played by farmers.”
“As the work gets harder or the children are struggling, by being able to communicate well, they are able to reach out to their community and ask for help. Resilience can be increased with support, and struggles and joy can be shared so children know they aren’t working alone.”
Goodrich
“Children have formed great relationships with their peers, us adults, and the farmers. Over the week, their confidence has increased with children having the courage to complete tasks they had previously said they wouldn’t do. We’ve seen many children come out of their shells; smiling more, socialising with new friendship groups, and happy to try lots of new things.”
Charles
Joy can be shared so children know they aren’t working alone.
Their confidence has increased with children having the courage to complete tasksDickens Primary School, London Wick Court Nethercott House
Everything was outstanding. Staff and children alike didn’t want to leave. Could not speak more highly of the staff; nothing was ever too much to ask.
Blenheim Road Community Primary School, Cwmbran Lower Treginnis
Each of our three heritage farms provides a vibrant living laboratory for children and young people to enjoy. The farms are a practical classroom in which children and their teachers immerse themselves in purposeful tasks during the day, and then relax in a warm, welcoming, and homely environment enjoying some respite from the hectic pace of modern life.
Children stay in bright and cosy bedrooms, many with ensuite facilities, and are responsible for taking care of these spaces. Teachers stay in comfortable single and twin en-suite bedrooms.
Homemade meals with fresh produce grown directly on the farms, or sourced from local producers, are eaten together in our dining rooms, with many meals having been cooked by the children themselves in
food preparation sessions with the kitchen team. Our amazing kitchen staff can cater for all dietary requirements informed by allergies or by culture and faith, and the team will always seek to meet the needs of our guests. Food is fuel on the farms and our visitors have an abundance of nutritious, tasty, and heartening meals and snacks to enjoy throughout the day.
Free time on the farm can be spent playing outside in the fresh air on our substantial land, or opting for something more sedate in our classrooms, library, craft rooms and safe spaces full of books, games and art materials to get creative and to relax after busy days on the farm. Teachers will often plan evening activities to ensure that each day concludes with more opportunities to bond and build friendships.
Although the farms are a device free zone for our younger guests, teachers can access the wi-fi to stay in touch with the world back home.
Our first farm, Nethercott House, sits overlooking the Dartmoor National Park in a stunning rural location. Deep in Devonshire farming country, Nethercott House is a grand but homely Victorian manor house with sweeping lawns and steeplybanked hedgerows that lead down to the serene River Torridge. It is an oasis of peace and calm and it can welcome 39 young people and 5 accompanying teachers.
Working with our partner farmers, children will travel via tractor trailer to take care of their cattle and sheep, and back at Nethercott House, children will tend to poultry, pigs, sheep and an assortment of donkeys and ponies. They will work in the kitchen garden and polytunnels and cook meals in our specially designated food production area. Birdwatching, biodiversity walks and beekeeping sessions are complemented by time in the spinney building dens and enjoying woodland arts and crafts
and storytelling sessions in the roundhouse. Visitors like to engage in a countryside walk, navigating the lanes up to the village of Iddesleigh, the inspiration for the novel War Horse by our founder and neighbour Sir Michael Morpurgo.
The farm at Lower Treginnis is the most westerly farm in Wales. Sitting just outside the beautiful city of St David’s, Lower Treginnis is our coastal farm with panoramic horizon views of the land and ocean, providing its visitors with an incredible mix of wild and windswept Welsh commercial sheep farming, and the dramatic cliffs of the Pembrokeshire coastline.
Our most accessible farm for those with disabilities, Lower Treginnis can welcome 39 young people and 5 accompanying adults. Working alongside our partner farmer, visitors see a large-scale operation providing lambs for supermarket consumption. Tending to poultry and pigs, and horses, ponies and donkeys, visitors to Lower Treginnis can also get hands on with milking goats. Sowing, harvesting, and eating the produce from the very large garden and field-scale farming of potatoes, pumpkins and swedes gives visitors plenty to do.
Being on the coast, a visit to the beach to explore marine habitats is a must, as is birdwatching in an area renowned for its unique species. A village walk into St David’s to see our neighbouring community and visit the cathedral is also high on the list for our visiting groups.
The farm at Wick Court is an Elizabethan moated manor house once used as a hunting lodge by the Lords of Berkeley and rumoured to have been visited by Queen Elizabeth I. Although grand in its history, this intimate house stands on a site looking out across idyllic farmland to the reed beds of the beautiful River Severn. A haven for wildlife, visitors here enjoy a naturenurturing balance of biodiverse activities with birdwatching and beekeeping and some heritage farming with rare breeds stock.
Poultry, pigs, horses and ponies are cared for by our visitors who also get the unique opportunity to visit Olbury Farm and participate in the robotic milking of a large dairy herd. Stunning heritage orchards with rare species of fruit tree make for fantastic woodland sessions, willow and wool weaving and storytelling in the wonderful roundhouse.
The vibrant kitchen garden produces lush fruit and vegetables, and all of our teachers and children can undertake sowing, potting, harvesting and then cooking sessions indoors to make nutritious food to eat at dinnertime. Countryside walks enable mindfulness sessions of observing and drawing nature, building upon nature connectedness that transforms the young person on their return to home and school.
Our booking and farm teams work hand in hand with you to ensure every aspect of the immersive experience at Farms for City Children is tailored to your needs. We ensure that from the initial enquiry, through to departure day and beyond, that the process is as simple and as easy as possible, allowing you time to focus on your children and young people. We invite you to arrange a site visit to the farms so that you can see first-hand what we deliver, or to take a look at our website for more details.
Contact us today to book a life changing residential, for your children and young people.
To check dates and availability please contact: SQUARE-ENVELOPE bookings@farmsforcitychildren.org
SQUARE-PHONE 01392 276381
www.farmsforcitychildren.org
Excellent food, incredible and inspiring staff who made the week and all of the challenges along the way enjoyable for both staff and students. Hands on and involved with every aspect of our time, it was a real treat to be able to attend a residential here with the children. I felt that a particular strength of the team was their positive attitude and positive reinforcement which is sometimes overlooked or undervalued. Every member of the team had their own excellent approach to managing behaviour and encouraging children to be the best version of themselves. Thank you.
www.farmsforcitychildren.org
Registered Charity Number: 325120
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