Farms across Norfolk will open their gates to the public today – giving visitors a rare chance to discover how their food is produced, how animals are reared, and how our countryside is managed.
Open Farm Sunday, on June 9, is a national event co-ordinated by LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) which will bring thousands of people onto farmland for a day of tractor tours, meet-the-animals experiences, barbecues and summer-time fun.
Each event is as unique as the diverse enterprises which make up the region's farming industry, with participants tailoring their attractions to the farm's heritage, its key crops or its livestock - but all promise an entertaining and educational day in the countryside.
Annabel Shackleton, LEAF Open Farm Sunday manager, said: "It is jut so hugely important to connect the general public with food and farming and helping them find out where their food comes from. The farming industry needs the public to support it, and what better way than to invite them on to a farm to see for themselves the fantastic standards we have got in British farming.
"There is so much misinformation out there, but this is a chance for the public to see for themselves what our farmers are doing and to ask their own questions."
Open Farm Sunday events across the region include:
- Holkham Farming Company, Wells NR23 1AB. 10am to 4pm.
As the "birthplace of modern agriculture", Holkham offers vintage machinery displays which show the evolution of agricultural vehicles over the years, as well as a chance to see the large modern machinery which plant and harvest the estate's arable crops today. Tractor tours will give visitors a closer look at the north Norfolk estate's farming operations and a chance to meet some of its animals.
- Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, Gressenhall, near Dereham NR20 4DR. 10am to 5pm.
From horses to drones, find out how farming methods have changed over the years. Take a tractor and trailer ride and discover what's growing in the fields on Gressenhall Farm. Meet the Suffolk Punch horses and watch them working, carrying out seasonal tasks.
- Old Hall Farm, Dereham Road, Westfield, Dereham NR19 1QF. 10am to 4pm.
Old Hall Farm is a mixed farm with Aberdeen Angus beef cattle, Tamworth pigs, Hebridean sheep and arable crops
There will be a guided farm tour, sheep shearing demonstration, birds of prey, pond dipping, machinery displays and a barbecue using meat from the farm's own livestock.
- Manor Farm, The Street, Fundenhall, near Wymondham NR16 1DS. 11am to 4.30pm.
Watch the dairy cows being milked by robots, see sheep being sheared, bottle-feed lambs, and cuddle a calf at this event, which also includes metal detecting, a giant inflatable tractor and a chance to meet Jelly the Jersey cow, Simon the Scarecrow and Twiggy the Sheep. The event is also raising money and awareness for a mental health charity.- Old Hall Farm, Norwich Road, Woodton NR35 2NA. 10am until 3pm.
Old Hall Farm opened in 2017 selling raw Jersey milk, cream, butter and milk-fed pork, and is now expanding in 2019 to include a cafe, vineyard, and the farm's own ice cream. The event includes a farm trail through the vineyard, a chance to meet the Jersey cows and calves, milking demonstrations, a hog roast, and modern and vintage farm machinery.
- Lewis Partners, Shotford Hall Farm, Harleston IP20 9QT. 11am until 5pm.
Shotford Hall is a mixed farming business with milking cows, beef cattle, crops and farm contracting. Visitors can watch the sheep-shearing, see the young calves being fed, watch the milking of the dairy cows, or watch the cows' pregnancy scanning. There are also chances to meet the brewer and baker, go on a tractor ride, or have fun in the children's activity barn.
- Mrytle House Farm, Church Road, Terrington St John, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire PE14 7SA. 10.30am to 3.30pm.
Mrytle House Farm is home to a newly-planted pear orchard and growing tunnels which are trialling stone fruits such as plums and apricots in the UK.
John the farmer will provide a guided orchard tour to explain how he grows fruit for local supermarkets, and the challenges he can face.
- J B Shropshire & Sons Ltd, Hainey Farm, Barway, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 5TZ. 10am to 4pm
This farm is offering tractor and trailer tours, woodland walks, tours to the celery harvest and factory tours. There will also be machinery displays, crafts, pedal tractors, and a chance to plant your own lettuce - plus the Cookery Theatre makes it's comeback after a year away.
For full details of all Open Farm Sunday events, see the LEAF Open Farm Sunday website.
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