Farms for City Children offers a five day (four-night) immersive residential on one of our three heritage farms for children and young people visiting with their schools or community groups across all areas of England and Wales.
We exist to remove the barriers that prevent children and young people having meaningful access to the natural world. Through our food, farming, and nature-connected wellbeing offer, we strive to empower the next generation to experience the physical and mental health benefits of being in the countryside, and to see themselves as the custodians of our landscape for generations to come.
Who do we serve?
We work with maintained primary and secondary schools and further education centres in cities predominantly, but also from rural and coastal communities to support all children and young people who are impacted by a poverty of experience that denies them access to outdoor learning opportunities.
Who can come to one of the farms?
Farms for City Children welcomes children between the ages of 8-19, particularly focusing on under-privileged and under-served communities from all areas of England and Wales. Each week we accommodate up to 39 children and 5 accompanying adults, working with the school and group leaders to deliver an inclusive and transformative residential experience. You will have exclusive use of the farm throughout your stay.
Every visiting group must be accompanied by suitably qualified and experienced adults who will remain in loco parentis. We ask that the same adults remain onsite for the duration of your visit for health and safety reasons. As a minimum, all groups need to bring 1 adult for every 13 children, plus at least 1 additional adult who is present throughout the visit. We can host up to 5 accompanying adults.
St Davids, Pembrokeshire, SA62 6RS
When can we come to the farms?
Farms for City Children is now open all year-round welcoming schools in term time and community groups in non-term weeks. The farms are bustling with activity across the four seasons and there is always food, farming, and outdoor learning tasks to be completed to take care of our land and our livestock.
What will we do on the farms?
Children work hard on the farms from 7.30am – 7pm each day. A combination of physical farm tasks, animal care, and maintaining the farms is combined with sowing, harvesting, and cooking tasks that anchor the young person to an understanding of the field > farm > fork journey. This improves food choices, increases the consumption of fresh, locally produced meat, fruit, and vegetables, which can help young people to develop longer term commitments to leading a healthier life.
A renewed focus on nature nurture is delivered through wellbeing activities to induce greater nature connectedness from long biodiversity walks, birdwatching on the coast and the riverside, beekeeping sessions, sustainable arts and crafts, mindfulness sessions, storytelling, poetry, and astronomy. Collaborating on tasks never before attempted develops courage, confidence and curiosity.
Children and young people learn to be mindful, empathetic, and to notice their environment. They learn to take responsibility for themselves, each other, and work in harmony with the animals and the land. Free from digital intrusion, their analogue imaginations are liberated, and they enjoy mental health respite from the pressures of a life lived online.
Being on the farm gives each child or young person that space to just be. With reduced stress levels, increased freedom and more meaningful interactions and connections, young people return home having developed greater resilience and attained an enormous sense of pride as a result of being a “Farmer for a Week.”
Where will we eat, sleep and play on the farm?
Our brilliant team of cooks and housekeepers will look after you and offer you a “home from home”. The team will provide a wonderful menu of delicious and nutritionally balanced homecooked meals throughout your stay (using the fresh produce from across the farm) and will help you to keep the farmhouse and accommodation clean, neat, and tidy.
The menu changes depending on arrival and departure times, and also seasonally depending on what we have from the garden. It will also change dependant on what meat from our own farms we have available, so each week is slightly different. Alternatives are always made available for those who have dietary requirements, food allergies or intolerances. We cater for all dietary requirements so everyone can enjoy their farm visit and stay well fuelled, and ask that you inform your group lead so we can receive all information two weeks before arrival.
The dormitories and bedrooms are situated in our wonderful heritage farmhouses. Children sleep in cosy bunk beds in dormitories accommodating between 4 and 12 and have access to shared en-suite or adjacent bathrooms. There’s plenty of storage space beneath the beds for clothes and personal belongings.
Teachers are accommodated in welcoming twin bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms.
Visiting schools also enjoy spending time in our high-ceilinged historic dining rooms, parlours, quiet rooms, games rooms, libraries, and creative classrooms, which the visiting teachers can choose to use as they wish throughout the visit. Stocked with brilliant books and board games there is plenty to inspire the children’s imagination.
Each farm has huge, clean-zone lawns and gardens for you to enjoy and explore in the evening.
One thing you won’t find at any of the farms is a television! We are proudly screen-free and strongly encourage all our visitors to enjoy an un-plugged week where digital addictions are swapped for analogue adventures.
How much does it cost to come to the farm?
Farms for City Children works hard to fundraise to subsidise just over 50% of the real cost of a visit to the farm.
This means that schools and groups pay a reduced rate of £11,250 for the week.
This is a fully inclusive rate. All accommodation, food, staffing, resources, PPE, and programme are included in these costs, as are the costs of the five available teacher places. The school or community group arranges its own transport to and from the farm sites.
All visitors enjoy exclusive use of the farms and all facilities, with no other groups onsite whilst you are with us. This means that our costs for residentials are fixed, and we cannot give discounts for smaller group sizes or vary the fee for low/high season. Demand for weeks is high all year round.
If your school or group serves communities facing particular hardship, please contact us to see whether we can tailor the payment schedule to help meet your needs or support your application for funding assistance with your residential visit.
What is the availability and how can I make a booking?
We’re looking forward to welcoming you to the farms for week-long residential visits. To find out about availability and make a booking please talk to one of our sales team: