Explore Fordhall Farm

I’m dog sitting today, so I’ve just taken Luke out for a walk around the trails at Fordhall.  The sun isn’t really shining this afternoon, but it’s still really warm and the farm is still really beautiful. 

Luke

All three trails are now open! The 3^rd of the trails which is named after the late Arthur Hollins has been closed for a while as the ground had been so wet, but as you’ll see if you walk around the farm, it is now very dry and sandy.  Arthur’s walk takes you around most of Fordhall’s 140 acres and takes about an hour and half…longer if you stop to explore along the way! 

Tree tunnel

At the moment, out in Fordhall’s fields you will find the lambs and calves, they are all sticking close to their mums still.  In the pig paddock the Gloucester Old Spot piglets are a bit more adventurous; they love to go running off on an adventure!

Today, I walked along the River Tern and stopped to look at an otter holt (den), I was just about to pick up a cray-fish claw that was on the bank when I heard a splash, I turned to look, but all I could see was the ripples in the river - I was right by the otter and I missed it! Oh well…maybe next time.

The otter holt

Our trails are open all through the Bank Holiday weekend, Charlotte’s Walk only takes half an hour, Ben’s Walk goes a bit further and takes about 45 mins – for Ben’s Walk you probably still need your wellies. 

If you don't fancy going on a big adventure around the farm, you can still head over to the pig-nic area and see if you can find these guys...

For the youngsters (or the young at heart) we have a selection of free activities to help you explore along the way; create a natural bookmark, hunt out all the wooden animals, collect brass rubbings and go on a  Fordhall Treasure Hunt.  You can collect all of these from Arthur’s Tea Room – just ask at the till.

SPRING!

I hope you have a lovely bank holiday weekend – winter has finally turned into spring!

Becca

Piglets and Party

Last week we welcomed to the world 15 Gloucester Old Spot piglets - mum and babies are doing well!  

All of our Gloucester Old Spot pigs here at Fordhall Farm are free range. After they have been weaned off their mum, they are fed on a mixture of GM free pig feed as well as spent brewer’s grain from the local Joules Brewery in Market Drayton.

Our piglets really do run about freely – as they are so tiny, they can still fit under the paddock fence and explore the farmyard…but they soon run back to mum when they get hungry…or if they meet a cow…or even a chicken for that matter!

The Gloucester Old Spot breed was first officially recorded in the UK in 1913, although, there are numerous paintings from centuries before depicting spotted pigs.  The breed originated in South West England and were also known as The Orchard Pigs as they were usually kept in cider and perry orchards.  According to folklore the spots on the pigs back were bruises caused by the falling fruit!

This lovely old English breed is tough and hardy, yet easy to handle. They enjoy rolling around in the mud and playing around the paddock!

Mud, mud glorious mud!

The staff at Fordhall also enjoy playing around in our own paddock…we somehow managed to pick the windiest, wildest evening of the week to hold our Staff BBQ!  The team at Fordhall has grown so much over the years and it was fantastic to be able to get everyone together for a chance to socialize outside of work.

We managed to hold out against the elements and everyone had a lovely evening! Thanks for doing the cooking Ben!

Spring Weekend Fun

What a brilliant weekend we had here at Fordhall Farm! 
Our AGM was held on Saturday afternoon, the sun was actually shining, the birds were singing, the sky was blue and we had a fantastic day! The chairman of the board Chris Eldon Lee led the proceedings and had our shareholders in stitches! 

 

Ourlovely chair, Chris Eldon Lee made the day
very entertaining

The usual meeting stuff took place, with a report from the treasurer, voting on accounts and board members and a report from John Hughes on the Owen Paterson visit we had earlier in the year. After a delicious bring and share lunch, Charlotte gave an update on the all the FCLI’s activities and Ben followed with an update on the goings on of the Farm Business. 

 

We were really fortunate to have Ginny Mayall, from Pimhill Farm as our guest speaker.  She talked about the history and creation of Pimhill and had the audience enthralled with her story.

Ginny Mayall, daughter of pioneering compost
farmer, Sam Mayall.

The afternoon consisted of group discussions on what people would like to see happening at Fordhall in the future and the chance to plant their own seed to take home and grow a bit of Fordhall in their own back garden! 

The Barn Dance and Hog Roast kicked off in the evening with Ceilidh band “The Shropshire Heroes” and caller Baz Parkes leading the dancing.  After the first half of do-see-doing and promenading the food was served. Revellers enjoyed a mouth-watering pork bap and a glass of local ale before beginning the second half of the evening.  The night came to a close at around 11pm, with lots of happy faces heading home to get some sleep before the next days celebrations.

Sunday morning began with a ground frost, it was very chilly and I was beginning to worry that the event would not go down very well… How wrong could I be?!



Everyone say "Aaaah"

Stall holders arrived and set up their wares, the lambs and their mums were brought out to meet everyone, the chicks were chirping in their incubator, the may pole was set up and Dan and his Cannons were ready to go...

No one seemed to know what they were doing - but everyone still had fun!



Dan's Cannons

The wonderful Fordhall volunteers had arranged the tea and cake stall with a delicious array of cakes. Ben and his catering team were cooking up a storm and the smell of sausage and burgers was wafting around the field!



Mmmmmm - Sausage Baps!

Helen Stanley - expert Basket Weaver

Kaleidoscope Theatre performed to a big crowd who were completely taken by their heart-warming “silent-cinema”.
 

Kaleidoscope Theatre - silent cinema 

We had over 1000 people attend the Spring Celebration!  The farm came to life with happy families taking part in all of the activities we had to offer. The sun shone through the clouds just enough to allow people to sit and enjoy the buzz go on around them.
 

Bustling Marquee

The whole weekend, was such a success – we love having so many people on the farm, enjoying everything that Fordhall has to offer. It created such a lovely atmosphere and all I could see were smiling happy faces!

Happy Smiling Faces!
 

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate spring with us and to all the stall holders, craft demonstrators, activity leaders and of course, the brilliant volunteers, without whom none of this would be possible!

Becca
 

Thank you one and all!

Spring Fun at Fordhall Farm!

Well, yesterday I spent the morning with Sian walking the cold streets of Market Drayton sharing Pork Pie samples from the Farm Shop and promoting our new Market Munch Meal.  

On a Wednesday, you can get 2 courses for only £9.95 – delicious, organic, local, seasonal, home cooked food for less than a tenner! Oh – it snowed a lot too and I was dressed as a cow!

Moooo...

So, now that I’m back in the office and my fingers have defrosted a bit we thought it was time to tell you what you can get up to at Fordhall Farm this spring…

We are open all over the Easter Weekend, including Easter Monday.  There will be self-led activities available to pick up from the tea-room, including a Spring Treasure Hunt, Orienteering maps, sticky bookmarks and woodland ropes to climb through on the farm trail.

The Great Egg Roll of 2012

On Saturday 6^th April, our annual fundraising Barn Dance and Hog Roast will be held at 7pm. We have the brilliant folk group The Boat Band (with dance caller) to lead the proceedings. Whether you are a first time Barn Dancer or a seasoned veteran, everyone is welcome! It is always a good laugh and the Hog Roast is mouth wateringly delicious…! 7pm-11pm, £10 adult, £5 child

The very next day, we have our Spring Celebration and Lambing Day. This is a great opportunity for you to come and see our lovely lambs up close and peek in at the chicks keeping warm in their incubator.  You can have a go at powering an air pumped canon using only your body, have your photo taken with a bird of prey, have a go at May Pole dancing and enjoy the wonderful mime performances of Kaleidoscope Theatre.  You can scramble through a hay bale tunnel, help look after the birds this spring by making bird feeders and you can even get your face painted…phew – and if that’s not enough, there will also be a variety of lovely, local producers selling their wares and a Fordhall Farm BBQ. 10am-4pm, £1 adult, 50p children

In the week after the events, we will be holding our annual Egg-Stravaganza!  On Thursday 11^th April, children (with an accompanying adult) can come and decorate an egg, take part in the Great Fordhall Egg Rolling competition, go on a mini-egg hunt and if they are very good…and quiet, they can even go and visit the lambs. 10am-12pm, £5 per child (with accompanying adult).

On Saturday 13^th April, we will be running a Family Woodland Day with Julie Edwards. See who can build the biggest den? Play woodland games, get creative with woodland materials and enjoy a woodland snack by the campfire! 10am-2pm, £10 per person (£35 for family of 4) Suitable for ages 4+

So – there is A LOT going on! If you want to take part in any of the above events or courses, please give us a call or pop into the tearoom to book your place 01630 638696

Meanwhile, Happy Easter…don’t eat too much chocolate!

Becca x

(photo taken from alexcastle.blogspot.com)

The Minister for DEFRA visits our organic farm

Minister for DEFRA Owen Paterson and Fordhall Board Members

Shropshire’s MP, Owen Paterson, in his new role as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, visited Fordhall Farm last Friday.

As our local MP and with his new role, we had to invite him to Fordhall. We wanted him to see what has been achieved after so many lovely people across the country decided they wanted to support British and organic farming. We wanted to show him the benefits of community owned farms and perhaps provide him with some new and innovative ways forward for the industry.

 

His visit had been in the diary for some months, and when the horse meat scandal hit the headlines in February, the timing just got better.

 

 

We were really pleased Mr Paterson found time to visit Fordhall, having suddenly found himself very busy recently.... We were keen to show him how the concept community ownership has allowed Ben to continue farming on land he would not otherwise have afforded, whilst simultaneously providing a valuable resource for the local and wider community. We also took the opportunity to demonstrate the local food chains at Fordhall and the positive influence the horse meat scandal has had on business.

At the recent NFU conference the Owen Paterson said “To be the lead innovators and increase our competitiveness globally, we need highly skilled, entrepreneurial and ambitious people working in our farming and food sectors. I welcome the industry’s lead in promoting itself to young people and supporting new entrants, with a number of initiatives already underway.”

The visit on Friday gave Owen Paterson the opportunity to see the community farm in action. Whilst here he visited a group from Market Drayton Infant School who had walked from the town to visit us. They took great delight  in telling Mr Paterson what they had learnt about the farm, including where sausages come from and how to do a worm dance!

We then took a short tour of the farm, explaining our Foggage farming system, which allows the livestock to remain on the pasture year round, before returning to our sustainably renovated Old Dairy for a tour of our classrooms and a demonstration of the natural materials we have used, the butchery and then the tearoom for a Fordhall ploughman's lunch.

Demonstrating the sustainable building techniques we have used at Fordhall

 

Owen Paterson said “Ben and Charlotte Hollins have demonstrated a clear determination to remain in farming. I salute their enterprise and commitment “

There is no horse meat in the
Fordhall butchery!

Ben was pleased that the Minister was also interested in the supply chain on the farm, which goes from here to an abattoir in Stoke and then everything is back to the farm to be hung and butchered, and then sold direct to the public. Not only do we sell everything direct, without horsemeat in sight, but we also employ over 20 people on the farm, something that not the average 140acre would find possible and something which did seem to tick an important box with the Minister.

After visiting the farm Owen Paterson said “the transformation at Fordhall over the last 7 years is extremely impressive. The environmentally friendly buildings provide a real centre piece for the farm.”

Market Drayton IS IncrEdible!

Pam Warhurst, Emma Walton,
Tricia Pedlar, Charlotte Hollins

On Monday night the Festival Drayton Centre, in Market Drayton, was alive with enthusiasm and excitement. There were over 60 people gathered in the green room to listen to inspirational speaker Pam Warhurst. Pam came down from Todmorden in West Yorkshire, where she and other community members have formed an amazing project called Incredible Edible Todmorden. The idea behind this is to encourage and educate people to use and grow local produce and suppliers. They have transformed the look of their small town by growing fruit and vegetables in planters, on grass verges and in any available green spaces they could find! It has also had an amazing impact on the town’s tourism, with busloads of people arriving to follow the ‘Green Route’.

Incredible Edible Todmorden link HERE

The Incredible Edible theme has spread and there are now 35 Incredible Edible towns around the country as well as some abroad.

The Market Drayton Community Partnership’s (MDCP) environment & climate change group (which is made up of local volunteers including Emma and Charlotte!) linked up with the Fordhall Community Land Initiative and Making Local Food Work to facilitate and co-ordinate Monday evening.  

There was so much support and enthusiasm in the room to develop an IncrEdible Market Drayton concept further. Suggestions were made that the space outside the library might be a possible place to grow edible plants, that ‘Shropshire Prune’ damson trees be planted around the town, that an audit of fruit trees be done so that the fruit does not go to waste, but is utilised to make jams etc. How about bees on top of flat roves in the town centre to pollinate plants? That was another suggestion. The list is vast.……..a gingerbread shaped garden, garden shares where people who don’t have garden space can help those who cannot manage their own gardens anymore.

What was really brilliant too was that there was a diverse group of people there on the night: local councillors, Shropshire Council representatives, the mayor, local residents, the prison, the allotment group, Fordhall (of course), Meres and Mosses Housing Association and on and on the list could go…………………

We were all very excited about the enthusiasm in the room - so much so we couldn't sleep for the next few days!!

There will be a second meeting in about a month’s time, so if you are interested in getting involved then please give me (Emma) a call at Fordhall (01630 638 696) where I am now the Community garden Co-ordinator or email me on project@fordhallfarm.com

Our first planting opportunity is happening this weekend. We will be meeting at 2pm in the car park at Walkmill Meadows in Market Drayton. We have been given 6 Shropshire damson trees to plant on the site. Obviously 6 trees will not take a long time to plant, so we will probably do a general tidy and litter pick while we’re on site. Hopefully see you there.

Emma
Community Garden Co-ordinator

New Year, New Staff!!

We’ve had some changes here in the office this month; we have two new members of staff!
Emma Walton, who will be taking over from Bex Syrett our Community Gardening Officer and Jane Edwards who will be taking over from Beth Kennett our Admin Assistant. 

See you soon, Bex!

Bex will be taking 6 months off from tending to the Community Garden at Fordhall, in order to travel around Europe in a revamped ambulance!  She will be visiting different Permaculture sights around Europe and picking up new ideas to bring back to Fordhall in the Autumn!

So, until then, the garden will be left in the capable hands of Emma.  Emma has been working in Wildlife and Conservation Management with people of all ages, teaching them practical conservation skills and personal development. She is also a familiar face around Market Drayton and likes to support to the local community.

Emma’s interesting fact… “I cycle toured in Australia for 5 months!”

Beth is off to the Galapagos Islands to volunteer and learn about the wildlife there.  She has been with us for 3 years and although it’s sad to see her go, we are very jealous of her adventure ahead and hope that she has an amazing time!

Bye bye Beth!

Jane has come from a very different job environment to Fordhall; she was working as an e-learning advisor supporting adult education in the West Midlands.  She lives in South Shropshire and is in the process of setting up her own Shitake mushroom growing business.  She has been a strong supporter of Fordhall’s since the days of the campaign.  She is also Becca’s mum!

Jane’s interesting fact… “I lived in Afghanistan for 2 years during the 1980’s!”

The tearoom have also had some changes recently, with Katy Caldecott leaving to pursue a career in retail, as well as working hard on her musical career with her band Pre-Sleep Monologue.

Good Luck Katy!

To fill the gap left by Katy, we have the lovely Odilia Briceno-Plummer.  Odilia, used to manage her own guesthouse in her home country of Venezuela.  She also organised community work days, clearing up local green space in her neighbourhood.

Odilia's interesting fact..."My family own a chocolate farm in Venezuela!"

So, with new team members on board, we have a fresh bunch of ideas to drive forward over the next 12 months. 

Farewell to Beth, good luck Katy, see you soon Bex and welcome to the team Emma, Jane and Odilia!

Can Market Drayton be IncrEdible??

A group of local residents and volunteers involved in the Market Drayton Community Partnership and helping to work on actions arising from the Market Drayton Town Plan think it can be !

 

There are lots of interesting links between the community, food, health and tourism that have helped generate great ideas and even some free food in other towns. The Fordhall Community Land Initiative has gained a small amount of national funding from Making Local Food Work and some facilitation support to fund a meeting to start a discussion.

There is an initial open meeting on Monday 4^th Feb, 7pm at the Festival Drayton Centre, where ideas will be discussed, chaired by Charlotte from Fordhall Farm, and guest speakers from Incredible Edible Todmorden and the Plunkett Foundation.

 

Charlotte is also a volunteer with the Market Drayton Community Partnership Environmental Group. She has had a number of conversations with various groups in Market Drayton around local food through volunteering on the partnership. It became apparent that there were lots of links and partnerships to be made. The funding and resources available from the Plunkett Foundation are allowing Fordhall to support the development of these links further. We hope the meeting on Monday will be full of ideas from the whole community on making Market Drayton IncrEdible.

 

The evening will include an inspirational talk from Pam Warhurst, the chairman of Incredible Edible Todmorden. A hugely successful project with international recognition.

 

Some great ideas already been aired by residents involve the planting of more damson trees around the town centre to highlight the towns heritage as the town of the damson, or the collection of fruit from trees in private gardens where people are not able to collect and use the fruit themselves. There may even be possibilities of using scrub land around the town or areas of council land to grow herbs and vegetables!

 

Most importantly, we want to enjoy ourselves, work collaboratively, have fun and make Market Drayton a better place to for us to live, and hopefully a more interesting place for others to visit. This evening will explore ideas and develop partnerships.

 

Miriam, a key volunteer from the community partnership said "lets nourish the roots of Market Drayton and see the town grow. These projects have so many benefits for our health, in so many ways. Market towns rely on local networks and local food is a crucial one."

 

The hope is that the support from Fordhall can help coordinate initial activities with new volunteers through the Market Drayton Community Partnership. A group that was set up by local residents to help action points from the town plan, to improve the town, bring back a sense of community and make it a better place for everyone.

 



Miriam, Charlotte, Richard, Emma (coordinator) and Clive all volunteers with the Market Drayton Community Partnership

So fingers crossed for Monday - everyone is welcome, we hope to see you there....