A Great Day at Longdown Farm

23 excited children from Bethany school spent the day experiencing life on a busy farm and meeting lots of interesting animals.

Many of the children had never been close to animals before and this trip gave them the opportunity to touch, feed and even hold them. The kid goats and calves were as thrilled as the children when being bottle-fed. Some of the children held kid goats and chickens and everyone had the chance to hold ten day old chicks. Farmer Bryan, who guided the children round the farm, gave them tuition in how to hold the animals properly and the joy on the children’s faces was wonderful to see.

A high point of the day was a ride on a trailer pulled by a big tractor that took the group round some very bumpy farm-tracks. There were shrieks of delight and much laughter as they went round. A more serious task was collecting eggs, that had to be carefully carried, to be packaged up for sale at the farm shop.

Frances Cornelius, chair of Variety Wessex said:

Thank you so much to Shan and the BC Club for funding this truly wonderful event for these very wonderful children. Thank you also to Laguna coaches for your continuous support and your very capable driver Andy who always ensures we have a safe journey.

A very BIG thank you to ‘Farmer Bryan’ and his lovely family who always make sure Variety children have the “bestest” day possible at their most wonderful Farm.

Elisabeth Rawson-Jones, Pastoral Lead at Bethany CE Junior School said:

Just to say a huge THANK YOU to Frances and Variety, the Children’s Charity for an incredible day yesterday. The children had a wonderful time and were so excited to feed the goats and calves, to hold baby chicks and then trying to catch a chicken (which is not as easy as it sounds). It was lovely to watch as each child got to be a farmer for a short period of time. I really think that Farmer Bryan is brilliant including the children in this way.

Watching the confidence of these little people grow over the course of the day was very special. It was a struggle for us to leave as everyone was having such a great time.

The trip to Longdown Farm was part of the Variety, the Children’s Charity Great Days Out scheme that aims to give positive memories to disadvantaged children who may otherwise miss out on such experiences.