Baby chicks at Fordhall Farm

Yes Easter came and past us by. But we were left with a cluster of very young chicks. Alice came from Market Drayton came to visit and we hope others will too. Watching them, hopefully avoid the fox, and grow into strong egg laying chickens.

Meanwhile Ben's cows are now beginning to enjoy the new spring grass and the goats continue to find all the holes in the fence and cause havoc. If you want to visit the chicks or lambs (now out of Bens new shed and back into the field) at Fordhall then dont forget we are open every weekend Fri-sun 11-4 and wednesday 11-4.

We hope you all had a lovely easter.

P.S. Ben has just started to make his own sausages - watch this space for photos soon...

P.P.S. Dont forget that tickets are now available for 'Arthur's Plough' - see our main website for more details www.fordhallfarm.com

FARMERS' MARKET and LAMBING SUNDAY!

What a success Sunday at Fordhall Farm was! Although it was cold the rain held off and it was a great day, over 1,500 people came! The children loved the Easter Egg hunt, the lambs, chicks - even some sheep shearing went on! The guided walks proved so popular that Charlotte had to do more! Ben's burgers also went down a treat, nearly everyone tucked into a sausage or a burger which caused us to run out of tomato sauce!
The variety of local produce that we had was amazing, there was something for everyone! We are now looking forward to an even bigger, better (and hopefully a tad warmer!) Family fun day on the 6th July! Put it in your diaries now!
-Hannah

FARMERS' MARKET and LAMBING SUNDAY!

Are you coming to our Farmers' Market and Lambing this Sunday at Fordhall Farm? I hope that the weather holds out as it is destined to be such an exciting day! Lambs are being born all the time and we have some chicks hatching! There is a wide range of stalls coming with local produce for everyone to enjoy! Make sure you don't forget it!

We also have a foot-stomping ceilidh at Harper Adams University College on Saturday at 6pm to celebrate the weekend. There are a few tickets left if you want to join in the fun. £10 adults, £5 concessions and it even includes a Fordhall Feast and a liscenced bar!

- Hannah
P.S Bring your walking boots. It's also the grand opening of our nature trail for 2008!

Did you see the news today?!

Once again Fordhall Farm is famous! The ITV news crew have been with us all day filming the lambs for an update on ITV Central, so far we have had two live broadcasts! It has been really great and is a great opportunity for Ben to show off his new lambs...and they have all been behaving so far!

Watch again for one week only by searching 'Fordhall' at
http://www.itvlocal.com/central/news/

Hannah

P.S Don't forget the Farmers' Market on Sunday and Ceilidh on Saturday.

Spring Lambs arrive at Fordhall Farm!

The new lambing shed was just finished after the working weekend, only a few minor finishing touches left. Thankfully we got there just in time, with the ewes having their first lambs on the same day we brought them in!

We have ten lambs so far from the first bunch and expect the majority of them to come over the next two weeks. Here you can see volunteer Alan and myself with the first lamb of 2008.

Thank you to all the guys who put in lots of hours of manual labour and time planning and building the shed, without all this help we never would have got it finished in time. And of course all those of who who donated £1 so that we could buy all the blocks we needed to keep out the wind. A real neccessity with the recent weather!

Everyone can come and see the new lambs at our Farmers' Market and Lambing Day on Sunday 16th March 11am-4pm.

Hopefully there will be many more by then, although I am not looking forward to the late nights, when I have to go and check the ewes and lambs in the dark and cold. Then again I wouldn't swap the life of a farmer for anything.

- Ben.

More information on the events at Fordhall Farm can be found on our website www.fordhallfarm.com