farmlink
FARMLINK helps local children to find out for themselves about the reality of farming and where their food comes from. There are still far too many reports of children convinced that meat comes from a supermarket packet and milk from a plastic bottle.
 "It's a better way to learn things; you take more of it in" Chris Walker, pupil, East Harptree Primary School
66% of children could not say where acorns come from
39% did not know in what season harvest time falls
Why should we close the gates to fields?
Responses included:
so the lions can't get out;
to keep the draught out;
so people don't get drunk in fields;
because a cow might sit on a car and stop the traffic
From: Countryside Life magazine October 2000.
Survey of 250 London children aged 7 - 14 and national poll of 398 children aged 7 - 10
"There is so much we can follow up at school". Jane Mitchell, teacher, East Harptree Primary School
 FARMLINK helps to address the balance by giving children hands-on experience on a real working farm. At a number of local farms the children are encouraged to explore plants in the woods, fields and hedges. Through science and geography activities, they discover animals in fields, ponds and streams. Then there are a whole range of new skills to learn as they go, like how to read a map and use a compass. This is all taught in the context of the National Curriculum, so that big chunks of the curriculum requirements can be covered at the farms. This ensures that the pressures of the school timetable are actually reduced rather than increased by a day at the farm.
 FARMLINK is a partnership project between envolve, B&NES Council, Mendips AONB Countryside Service and Alvis Brothers who own farms on the Mendips. On the back of another successful season the programme has now seen 700 children and half of all local primary schools benefiting from the farm visits since the pilot project in June 2000. An increase in funding has allowed the programme to expand to 4 farms Radford Mill, Corston Fields, Lower Stock and Elm which ensures a farm is accessible to each local school. What's more, the farms benefit too, educational work was given a special mention when Corston Fields Farm recently won a Gold Award as part of Prince Charles' "Duke of Cornwall Habitat Award".
The actual visits are run free by Nick Baker, the Farm Manager and Wardens from the Mendips Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Thanks to funding from the Countryside Agency, Local Agenda 21, New Opportunities fund SEED programme, Churngold Environmental Fund, Alvis Brothers and Mendips Countryside Wardens Service the cost of transport to the farm is subsidised so that children from all areas can afford to go.
"At last the vision of every child having a real understanding of the countryside, its importance and work, is more than just a dream" John Alvis, Managing Director, Alvis Brothers Farms.
For further information, email: Jane Talbot Tel: 01225 787917
In partnership with Bath and North East Somerset Council Environment Practice Team, Mendips Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Countryside Services and Alvis Brothers Farms. Funded by Bath and North East Somerset Council Local Agenda 21, Mendips Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Countryside Services, Sainsbury's Family Trusts and The Countryside Agency.
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