17th February 2012 - Paul O'Grady drops in!
We were delighted to welcome Paul O'Grady to the farm yesterday evening. He was in the area to officiate at the renaming of Spring Gardens to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and, being an animal lover and farmer himself, dropped by to see us. He had a good chat with Waffle the goose before Catherine persuaded him to get comfy on the straw bales and cover his smart clothes in straw.
Peregrine and Pedro the ponies took Linda and Beth (the staff) across to the restored entrance to the pleasure gardens for a photo shoot - more photos to come!
10th February 2012 - Jo and Will are raising money
We were delighted to welcome Paul O'Grady to the farm yesterday evening. He was in the area to officiate at the renaming of Spring Gardens to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and, being an animal lover and farmer himself, dropped by to see us. He had a good chat with Waffle the goose before Catherine persuaded him to get comfy on the straw bales and cover his smart clothes in straw.
Peregrine and Pedro the ponies took Linda and Beth (the staff) across to the restored entrance to the pleasure gardens for a photo shoot - more photos to come!
10th February 2012 - Jo and Will are raising money
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Do you remember the straw bale stable in the yard?We recently had to pull it down because the cows helpfully ate huge holes in the wall and it was no longer safe. Some wonderful volunteers (Vanda, Dave, Steve and Michael) kindly came to help us with the demolition job. We're expecting lambs in the spring so we urgently need a new stable for them to live in!To help us raise the money we need to buy it Jo the farm yard manager is going to swim 5k. Go Jo! You can sponsor Jo online here. If you sponsor her more than £50 she'll do it in wellies and a flat cap.
Not to be outdone Will, who already volunteers his time and skills generously to the farm, is going to walk 84 miles coast to coast! You can sponsor Will online here and if you sponsor him more than £50 you can set a challenge for him as he walks - we think he should do the whole thing with a ferret in his trousers. Thank you Will and good luck!
3rd February 2012 - Subsidised riding lessons available
We are now taking names for our next intake of subsidised riding lessons. To qualify for these you need to be in receipt of working tax credits or income support and the lessons are £12 per lesson for a block of 10. If you would like to put your name down for these please contact Linda on linda.hinds@btconnect.com or 0207 582 420
13th December 2011 - Turkeys arrive in time for Christmas
Christmas came early for Trevor the Turkey today when two turkey hens arrived at the farm.
Jo selected two beautiful Norfolk Bronze birds from a smallholding in Surrey and they are settling in nicely.
10th December 2011 - Father Christmas flies in
Saving the reindeer for the big night, Father Christmas borrowed Peregrine and Pedro when he dropped in to our open day on Saturday. Beautiful sunshine, turkey curry, eco crafts, mountains of cake, mulled wine, spinning demos, face painting and animal handling made the day very busy and great fun. You can see photos from the day here.
The Young Farmers gave two performances of their fantastic play, based on the Nutcracker and sharing the message that animals are for life, not just for Christmas.
Thanks to everyone who came by and thank you so much to everyone who gave their time and resources to help, especially all the many wonderful volunteers on the day - we simply couldn't it without you!
Thank you also to IFAW, Pines and Needles, the Tea House Theatre, and the Coriander restaurant.
P.S. If you have any photos from Saturday that you would be happy to share with us please email them to vcfeducation@btconnect.com