Ashton Vale Primary School visit Fernhill Farm

11 Apr 2013

As part of Ashton Vale Primary School’s Food For Life project the school has been making strong links with Fernhill Farm on the Mendip hills for the last 3 years. Every year the year 2 and year 4 classes do 2 visits at different times of year to see how the different seasons affect the farm.

Farmer Andy organises the theme for each visit and they always go for a walk around the farm to see the work in progress and how Andy is working in partnership with nature to produce good food.

On visits they have also planted pumpkin seeds to take back to school, baked bread with Lynda’s Loaf, created bug hotels in the farm garden, weaved willow wands onto a frame, created bird feeders and made woollen mats using a simple loom. They also took some spare wool back to the school and worked with a local knitting group to spin the wool and create woollen thread they could use.

The children have gained a lot of knowledge of where food comes from and how caring for the animals and the plants means that the final food product is of a better quality. The school didn’t want to hide too much from the children in terms of where meat comes from and that many of the animals on the farm are being raised for food. These ideals have also fed into their own livestook care at school as they now have their own chickens, laying eggs for use in cooking clubs and class cooking.