Our Farms
Each of our three farms provides a new world for children to explore and a warm and welcoming team to work with.
Partner Farmers
We could not deliver the work of the charity without the engagement and enduring support of our partner farmers: the Ward family in Devon, the Merrett family in Gloucestershire and the Davies family in Pembrokeshire. Their continuing commitment to the charity and to serving the interests of the children and young people who visit each year, has ensured that we can deliver purposeful access to commercial farming activities for our beneficiaries. Our partner farmers are tremendous educators, sharing their knowledge and great expertise with generations of children whilst also ensuring that every child leaves with a greater sense of connection to the countryside. We are indebted to them.
You can find out more about each farm below.
Devon – Nethercott House
Nethercott House sits just outside the pretty Devonshire village of Iddesleigh with views to the high tors of Dartmoor National Park. Nestled deep in the countryside that inspired our founder – Michael Morpurgo – to write War Horse, Nethercott House is a Victorian manor with wide sweeping lawns, steeply banked lanes, and ancient hedgerows that lead down to the River Torridge.
Nethercott House accommodates up to 39 children and 5 adults.
During a visit to Nethercott House children will be immersed in the practical and meaningful farming tasks of the day, such as:
Feeding poultry and collecting eggs • grooming and mucking out horses, ponies and donkeys • feeding cattle • herding sheep • feeding pigs • walking through the fields and along the trout stream to check the health of livestock • working in the kitchen garden to sow, grow, tend and harvest the fruits and vegetables • cooking nutritious meals from the produce harvested in the kitchen gardens • making butter and yoghurt in the food prep room • lighting fires, whittling wood, and making dens in the forest • walking into the village, the spiritual home of Joey, Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse.
We’re now accepting bookings at Nethercott House. To find out more and discuss availability please get in touch with our bookings team.
Pembrokeshire – Lower Treginnis
Lower Treginnis farm sits on the stunningly beautiful site of a 700 year-old farmstead and is the most westerly farm in Wales. Situated on the peninsular just outside of Saint Davids – the UK’s smallest city – Lower Treginnis provides visitors with an incredible mix of traditional Welsh sheep farming and direct access to the beautiful beaches of Pembrokeshire National Park.
Lower Treginnis accommodates up to 39 children and 6 adults.
During a visit to Lower Treginnis children will be immersed in the practical and meaningful farming tasks of the day, such as:
Feeding and caring for goats (milking in season) • feeding poultry and collecting eggs • grooming, walking and mucking out donkeys • watching lambing (in season) herding sheep and checking health • feeding pigs and weighing piglets • working in the kitchen garden to sow, grow, and tend to vegetables and flowers • harvesting field-scale vegetable crops to use in the kitchen and sell off the farm • cooking nutritious treats from the farm produce • log session to produce kindling and firewood • coastal walk to see the abundant wildlife and learn about local history • beach visit for rock-pooling, beach cleaning and creative activities
We’re now accepting bookings at Lower Treginnis. To find out more and discuss availability please get in touch with our bookings team.
Gloucestershire – Wick Court
Wick Court is an impressive Elizabethan moated property once used as a hunting lodge by the nearby Lords of Berkeley and rumoured to have hosted Elizabeth I. The majestic house looks out across idyllic pastures to the reed beds of the River Severn – a view that has changed little since the first recorded farmstead stood on this land in the middle ages.
Wick Court accommodates up to 36 children and 5 adults.
During a visit to Wick Court children will be immersed in the practical and meaningful farming tasks of the day, such as:
feeding rare-breeds poultry and collecting eggs • grooming horses • feeding dairy calves • herding sheep and halter training lambs • feeding and weighing pigs • working in the kitchen garden to sow, grow, tend and harvest the fruits and vegetables • cooking nutritious meals using fresh farm produce • picking apples and pressing fresh juice • beekeeping • storytelling • Forest School activities like den building and fire lighting • birdwatching • willow harvesting and weaving • Bio-diversity walk & draw
We’re now accepting bookings at Wick Court. To find out more and discuss availability please get in touch with our bookings team.
“Working with the animals is one of the main attractions of Farms for City Children. I remember one visit with a group of children with particularly challenging behaviour. We went on a long walk across the farm to check the livestock. When we came to a field of sheep who were pregnant one of the children voiced a concern that they might get kicked or bitten by the animals. The Farms for City Children farm manager replied that the animals only do that if they are scared – just like people do. There was a quiet moment after that. It really resonated with the children. Making the link between their emotional state and their behaviour, via a sheep, was so much more accessible to them than the sessions in school that had focused on them and their behaviour.”
“Some of the children we took to the farms had very difficult and chaotic lives. We took them out of a very difficult environment where they were unable to socialise and didn’t know how to share and put them into a totally different world. It was a haven where they could thrive.”