11th December 2011 - You've got quail!
Today Duncan the Chinese Painted Quail and two of his siblings hatched on the farm - and hopefully more quail babies will follow soon! Luckily Will was there to capture the moment on camera (and come up with the brilliant quail pun) and you can watch Duncan making his grand appearance here!
6th December 2011 - The Wurzels drop by!
The Wurzels took time out of their busy touring schedule yesterday to visit the farm and present us with a beautiful Christmas tree! Arriving with a beautiful shiny tractor the band sang Christmas songs with a fantastic class of children from St Anne's Primary who then returned the favour by sharing a song from their Christmas play.After a short break for a cup of tea The Wurzels presented us with the tree and the children all got stuck in to decorate it. Meanwhile we snuck off to pretend we were driving the tractor.
For Wurzels fans more pictures are coming soon and if you come down to our Christmas open day this Saturday from 11 - 4 you could win a SIGNED Wurzel's Christmas album!
Check out some more pictures here.
28th November 2011 - Linda checks in with Pimms and Saphie
Back in May we discovered that Pimms the pony, who had been with only 6 months, was expecting! She gave birth two weeks later to her beautiful foal Saphie and they have been chilling out at a pony sanctuary in Shropshire ever since.
Linda went to visit them and came back with some beautiful photos of the ENORMOUS Saphie - she's huge!
Both mum and baby are doing really well. Pimms is now coming back into work and will be back with us some time in the new year.
You can see some more pictures on the horses' Facebook page. And don't forget to come and say hi to the horses before they leave for their Christmas holiday on December 8th.
12th November 2011 - VCF at the Lord Mayor's Show
Did you watch the Lord Mayor's Show on Saturday? You might have seen Linda, Beth and Hannah waving frantically from the Worshipful Company of Loriner's float. A loriner makes and sells bits, bridles, stirrups and other metal bits of a horse's harness and this year the Loriners are celebrating their 750th anniversary!The Loriners help a number of charities and have been very supportive of the farm. Earlier this year they bought us Lori, seen posing here with Richard. It was very exciting to be invited to take part in the Lord Mayor's Show and fantastic to meet representatives of the many charities the Loriners help. We even got a wave from Stephen Fry!
7th November 2011 - We recieved a donation from the Royal Vauxhall tavern!
Thank you to Jason, Timberlina and everyone at the RVT for their amazing support!
27th October 2011 - Emile Faurie hangs out with the horses!
Emile is a European Dressage gold medal winner and Olympic hopeful and his foundation aims to help as many children as possible experience the benefits of horse riding. He popped down to help with a lesson and meet our horses!
Read an article about the project in Horse and Hound.
19th October 2011 - Jedward meet Alan Titchmarch
Jenny and Edward the kune kune pigs had their first taste of fame on ITV today.
While
Jo rooted around in the skip for useful chunks of wood the pigs were
busy charming Alan for a feature on keeping pigs at home. Apart from one
brief escape attempt they were very professional!
16th October 2011 - Vauxhall City Farm Gallops to Victory at London Riding Horse Parade!
Vauxhall City Farm trotted away with seven rosettes at the annual London Riding Horse Parade last Sunday - including overall reserve champion.
Winners of all 11 classes went forward to the judging for the Supreme Champion London Riding Horse or Pony - and Vauxhall City Farm fielded three of the seven contesting the award.
Molly, pictured below with rider Sharon Williams, a regular volunteer at Vauxhall City Farm, qualified for the Supreme Championship by being named the pony the judge would most like to take home. She also came second in Best Riding School Pony.
"I loved the pony," said judge Lucy Fisher. "She and her rider seemed so happy together and went so beautifully."DJ, ridden by Polly Griffin, beat Molly to win The Best Riding School Pony. George and Julia Kappes, another volunteer, won the Best Riding School Horse.Vauxhall instructor Beckie Jones rode Lucky into a respectable fifth place on the pairs first outing in the Best Riding School Pony class.