£10,000 grant will allow Shropshire organic farm to grow
A community-owned farm near Market Drayton is to benefit from £10,000 of lottery funding that will go towards its first polytunnel and an all-new greenwood workshop.
Fordhall Organic Farm will now expand its placement service for adults with disabilities and be able to grow a wider variety of crops.
Bex Syrett, the care farm manager at Fordhall, said the team was delighted with the Big Lottery Awards for All grant.
“Our care farm service, providing meaningful placements for adults with learning disabilities, will now be able to offer even more creative activities to those who attend the service," she said.
“We are also expanding the service to a third day and with the Big Lottery award we can offer more placements in the north east of the county, where choice is limited, to people keen to find a service that helps them to fulfil their potential.
“People already attending the service were instrumental in putting the bid together so you can imagine how pleased they were to hear we had been successful.
Produce
“The polytunnel will enable us to have a longer growing season and we will be able to increase the variety of plants we can sell. From broad beans to tomatoes and any number of plants in between, we are looking forward to being able to sell many more plants to the general public visiting Fordhall.
“The produce kitchen in the straw bale bunkhouse will enable our groups to make some delicious jams and chutneys from produce grown here at Fordhall.”
Spaces on the new greenwood working sessions will be available from April and held on Tuesdays.
The care farm provides health, social and educational care services through supervised programmes of farming-related activities for vulnerable people.
Just before Christmas, the farm secured enough funding to build its straw bale bunkhouse to host more activities.
To learn more about the education and activity programmes at Fordhall, visit fordhallfarm.com
