I had the most wonderful day with a class of children from the Vale of Evesham School. We made the most of the gorgeous weather and spent much of the morning down by the pond. We found lots of creatures in our pond dipping nets and had the excitement of spotting newly emerged dragonflies and damselflies. We also popped to the cow shed to see the calves and the meadow to see the impressive display of buttercups. The boys were very happy to be in the wood after lunch. 

The visitor room had a touch of Christmas about it, as a group visited to experience Christmas on the farm and take home their Christmas crafts. 

 

Today Lime Class from Welcombe Hills School visited a very wet farm. The children were great when it came to thinking about what could be dangerous on a real farm. Having discussed tractors and quad bikes it was clear that the children wished to sit on the farm vehicles. We started our activities by taking it in turns to sit on the quad bike.

We then thought about our topic of Stoneage. With charcoal from the campfire we drew cave paintings on the cow shed wall. Whilst we were doing this, the shed was being prepared for winter housing the calves. We then looked at the calf food and with a stone tried to crush some wheat seeds to make flour. We decided that Stoneage man must have worked very hard to make bread. 

We ventured into the playwood but the rain was really heavy. We dashed back to the classroom and set up our own toy farm. After lunch it was still raining heavily and so the children made balloon stressball animals. Then we went back to the topic of Stoneage and sat and had a campfire (with non Stoneage marshmallows). The children finished their trip by finding a very muddy puddle in the playwood…….they loved it! 

I had a really lovely afternoon with a group of ‘nuture hub’ pupils from a local primary school. We spent a very relaxed afternoon on an autumn farm walk, collecting items from nature. It was a great opportunity for the children to learn whilst doing, take the activity at their own pace and have time away from the confines and busy atmosphere of school. The staff attending took the opportunity to observe the children in a new environment with an unknown adult (me!). 

Thank you Samuel and Charlotte from the Vale of Evesham School, for testing out how wheel chair accessible Sandfield Farm is. I am really, really pleased that these two lovely children were able to spend a whole day with me on the farm. The visitor room is fully accessible. The changing table in the disabled toilet meant that they could be changed with dignity. Also, they were able to enjoy a ride on the passenger trailer in safety and comfort.  My challenge now is to make the play wood more usable for those in wheel chairs….