Come dip a pond?

The Fordhall Community Land Initiative has partnered up with Market Drayton Taste of the Town Company to organise some childrens activity days over the summer. We want to get more children and families out into the countryside through the holidays, whatever the weather. Funded by a local grant and the Taste of the Town Company, these activities are free and great fun.

Shropshire Wildlife Trust will be running a Pond Dipping activity and Bug Hunt at Fordhall Farm on Tuesday 19th August from 2pm-4pm. Places need to be booked in advance by calling the office on 01630 638696.

Another two local activity days are at Park Hill Farm, Hales (TF9 2QA), 01630 652178. There will be two bug hunting days on 15th August 2-4pm, and 26th August 10-12am.

Come and enjoy the fun!

Fordhall awarded V Project grant.

Fordhall has been awarded a grant from the V project in order to enable us to encourage and recruit more younger volunteers onto the farm. So a massive thank you must go to the V project. I am very exited about this project and about gaining some new volunteers.
If you are interested in volunteering at Fordhall (regardless of age) please call me in the office on 01630 638696. Don't forget that we also have our next working weekend on the 6th-7th September, which is free. Sign up now!
Hannah

Hay Making in 2008 - beat the rain...

After wandering if the Summer weather was ever going to come, we have finally had chance to cut and make hay. Ben rents some land at Whitchurch from Shropshire Wildlife Trust (melverley Meadows). They are protected, traditional organic hay meadows and Ben uses them to cut hay for winter feed. However, you need at least a week of completely dry and warm weather for it to be successful.

Last week began well and on tuesday Ben took the decision to bale the hay. By the weekend it was already to bring back to the farm, but Saturday evening and Sunday predicted rain. This meant it was all hands on deck to get it completed on Satuday. Wet hay rots and is then worthless, he could not afford to delay and run into the rains.

Charlotte and Becca were at Shrewsbury Farmers' Market, Courier Dave and Helena were at Uttoxeter Farmers' Market and Ben had been able to rally up some more help in the field. Josh, Ralph, Dave, Chris, Craig, Ghislain (from Normandy) and later Helena (from Prague), Charlotte and Marie-Anne. The team worked hard through the mid day sun and put in some real effort. Eventually the hay made it into the barn, but everyone was working well into the night.

Alas, the rains did not come. But, nevertheless the hay is now safe and the barn is full ready for this years winter feed.

Well done all those who put in the hard work.

Summer Fun in the Fordhall Woodland

After a successful year of Forest School in Fordhall Farm's woodland, we have decided to organise some Forest Fun Activities for the Summer Holidays. These will run from Monday 28th July - Friday 1st August from 10am-12.30pm. They will be run by a qualified Forest School Leader and involve a whole range of activities from map trails, mini beast hunts, blindfold trails, den making, woodland crafts and even a campfire party!

For more information please contact the office on 01630 638696 or email project @fordhallfarm.com.

Charges:
£15 per day or £75 for the week. Discounts available for second child from the same family. Adults are free.
Suitable for ages 4 years and upwards. Under 9's must be accompanied by an adult.

Places must be prebooked as places are limited.

Successful Summer Fair

This weekend was the annual Summer Fair, and what a success it was! We had such a variety of stalls and activities for all the family. There were traditional Victorian games presented by the scouts, welly wanging for all the family, corn dolly demonstrations, bench making plus we even had a visit from the fire engine and police car (for the children to explore before you ask!) the sheep shearing which took place in our new barn was a resounding success, a really interesting and informative addition to the fair.

Lots and lots of people came through the gates, from nearby and as far away as London and everyone had a great time. Lots of home cooked organic cakes were munched as was Ben's tasty Hog Roast.
A huge thanks must go out to all our amazing volunteers that really helped for the day to go smoothly and without a hitch - we couldn't have done it without you!

Hannah

P.S Don't forget that this week is your last chance to see Arthur's Plough. It is on at Home Farm, Attingham from Wednesday - Saturday. Please ring the office for ticket availability.

Second Week of Arthurs Plough Play

Today we begin the second week of Arthurs Plough and it looks like the weather may be a little kinder to us. Last week, two performances were held in Ben's barn and two were held in the Farmhouse garden. All were very successful and everyone had fun.

This will be the last EVER week of performances at Fordhall Farm, with the following weeks performances moving to Home Farm, Attingham, Shrewsbury.

If you would like to book tickets for this week, please buy them in advance as we can not guarantee they will be available on the door.


Please go to Ben's Farm Shop or ring 01630 638696.

More photos available at Virtual Shropshire

OR see the BBC promotion of the show by following the link below
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7471582.stm

PLEASE DON'T FORGET OUR SUMMER FAIR
Fordhall Farm's biggest event of the year takes place this Sunday (6th July). Our Summer Fair will run from 11am-4pm and will have enough activities to keep you entertained all day. We have sheep shearing demonstrations - the naming of Ben's new Bull - hog Roast - live music - bee keeping demonstrations - games - farmer's market - afternoon teas - RAF Helicopter - fishing - composting and more...

How could you miss out!

We carried on regardless

Despite last nights rain, the second performance of 'Arthur's Plough' at Fordhall Farm was a great success. Volunteers (especially Chris, Charles and Helena) spent the day clearing the shed from animal muck to allow the cast and audience a clean space to sit.

Tonights performance should be back in the Farmhouse garden, but if the rain comes once more we will back into Bens shed.

Please dont forget to book your tickets early to guarantee a seat on the night.

For photos of the dress rehearsals follow the link below:
http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/shropshire_news/arthurs-plough.shtml

Arthur's Plough - First night Success!

Last night was the first night of Arthur's Plough (our play with music) at Fordhall Farm - and what a success it was! Lots of people turned up with their chairs and enjoyed a night of laughter as they were told the Fordhall story.
The acting was superb, a real pleasure to watch and extremely funny. (The bit with Victoria the pig was my favourite.) The farm cat even decided to make an appearance on the stage at one point, I think she forgot her lines though!
So if you haven't bought your ticket yet - get one quick! Even though it seems to be pouring with rain at the moment, tonight's performance will still go ahead, it just might be moved into the lambing shed (We will move the animals currently sheltering there out, don't worry!)
Please call the office on 01630 638696 if you would like to purchase a ticket or alternatively go online and you can buy one from Ben's online shop.
Don't miss out - See you there!
Hannah

P.S For those of you that REALLY cannot come, you can buy a DVD of the play, from the office for just £10.

One week to go - Buy your tickets today!

The Fordhall Farm Play 'Arthur's Plough' begins in only 1 weeks time, so there is not long to get your tickets...

Last week, Shrewsbury actors Rosie Coxhead and Matt Saull met Shropshire’s famous farming duo Charlotte and Ben Hollins when they visited Fordhall Farm to research their parts.

Actor Rosie Coxhead, who plays Charlotte, said, “It was a real thrill to meet the woman I am about to play on stage. We talked for ages and I got a real insight into Charlotte’s pioneering personality. By the end of the afternoon even our body language was similar.”

Ben was also delighted to meet actor Matt Saull. “I’d read the play of course, but seeing myself portrayed on stage is a very exciting feeling. The only drawback is that Matt is slightly more handsome than me.”

“Arthur’s Plough 2008” is a new Arts Council-funded musical play for Shropshire complete with performing pigs, dancing microbes and plenty of muck, mirth and magic. A cast of ten actors, complemented by a 40-strong choir, will give a total of 12 performances of the play.

Performances begin on 25th June to 28th, and July 2nd to 5th at Fordhall Farm and then 9th to 12th July at Home Farm, Attingham, Atcham, Shrewsbury.

Tickets at £10 (£7.50) can be purchased from Fordhall Farm shop on 01630 638 696 or by clicking on Ben's Online Shop below.

Click Here: Online Shop

There isn't long left so please buy your tickets soon to avoid disappointment.

Find our Ancient Trees

A recent volunteer to Fordhall Farm was Paul Beevers. Whilst here, he and 'Courier' Dave went searching for Ancient Trees. They found three that would qualify. The trees
measured 4.8 mtrs, 6.05 mtrs and 4.7 metres respectively.

The Ancient Tree Hunt classifies oaks of interest by girth as follows;
* Trees with a girth of more than 4.5m or 3 hugs are potentially
interesting
* Trees with girth of more than 5m or 3.5 hugs are valuable in terms
of conservation
* Trees with a girth of more than 6m or 4 hugs are likely to be truly
ancient

This means that 1 of the trees is classed as truly ancient - which is rather
nice!

Also did you know that oaks support far more species of birds, insects, fungi than
any other native tree by a mile. Insects supported by an oak exceeds 350
species and for example 30 species of lichen. The older the tree the more
species. As there are more holes and breaks as the trees get older then
owls, woodpeckers, bats and many other birds make greater use of the tree.

Perhaps you have some ancient trees near you. Why not try hugging them with your friends and if they are big enough you can log them on the official website below.
http://www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk/