We are pleased to be part of Melksham Family Learning Festival programme 2018. Sunday 28th October – 10.30 – 2.00pm

Come along for free to our rural learning centre and take part in some outdoor activities.

You can meet and feed the animals, have a tractor ride, do some farm foraging and try some rural craft, plant poppies, wild flowers, try mangold hurling and lots more. Please book in to make sure you have a place. Email: contact@caenhillcc.org.uk or call: 07837 568699

This April we were asked by Martin one of our volunteers if we could grow mangolds at the farm. We welcome ideas from our volunteers and this idea like the mangold grew and grew. Martin suggested a mangold hurling competition just after harvest.

Mangold hurling has been a tradition in England for centuries so we thought it was time to bring it back to the farm with our own UK championship to raise awareness for a crop that is a great feed for animals and easy to grow

Some fodder beet (mangold) facts in German they are called Futterrübe, Dutch its oederbiet. They are okay left in the ground but temperatures of - 5°C or lower will damage them. Best harvested and kept in a clamp. You can produce around 24 tonnes per acre and are amongst the largest consumers of CO2; they also release the highest amounts of O2.

SO on 20 October 2019 we held the mangold hurling championship.

The day before our willow (one of our mangolds maidens) picked the largest mangold, our target mangold called a norman. Our fair maiden then bathed and brushed the large mangold (norman) with her special waters.

Every Saturday we have our Dotty club for young people from the ages of 7 to 13. Young people  who want to learn more about farming and the countryside.  Each week they get a chance to help feed the animals and take part in fun tasks like tractor rides, forest school and planting.
This week the students will be planting wild flowers, pudding, feeding animals & have a ride in a wagon.
We also run DofE on a Saturday morning.
This saturday adults  (widget club) have a chance to take a part in mangold hurling. Contact us for more details.  helie@caenhillcc.org.uk 

Food cycle  - 9.30 - 14.30 hours   13 October 2018

Starting at 9.30 am 13 October Caenhill Countryside Centre Charity & Sainsbury’s Devizes Staff are doing a 50 miles bike ride on a static bike at the store in Devizes to help raise funds for the development of two separate farm kitchens and a crop area at the Caenhill Countryside Centre. The ride will cover 10 fictitious destinations all named from crops grown at the farm,starting from Carrot Corner go through Potato Patch, pass the Greens and finish at That's Shallot  Each 5 miles cycled will burn approximately 254 calories, about 25 small carrots. The bikes are supplied by Bikes n Boards Devizes.

The Centre run by volunteers supports young people with education and wellbeing six days a week.  Apart from looking after the animals the young people help grow crops. The two new seperate farm kitchen and crop areas will help the centre teach the young people of how to prepare the food for the animals and of course for themselves. Healthy eating is a big part of what the centre teaches.

Helie Franklin, project manager said we find many of our new students are unaware of where there food comes from and by creating a new dedicated area where they can grow and prepare food will be a great benefit.

At the event the Centre will be promoting their Back to Nature Calendar 2019 where volunteers have bared shoulders to make a fun fundraising calendar to also help raise funds for the new areas. Calendars are available at £8 each or two for £15 profits going to the farm kitchen.

Thanks to the good work we do with young peoples education and wellbeing we now have been awarded our charity status and our Registered Charity Number is  1177801. Of course it does not automatically mean we will get funding so fundraising & donations are a big part of o ur project. Thanks to Max Phesse and the Fiat Lux Lodge for their kind donation of £153.50.

If you can help in any way then please get in touch or visit our wanted page

There are many ways to support the project which helps young people with learning and welbeing this can be by volunteering, donating animal feed or building materials, fundraising and foraging.  So this year 2018 you have a chance to earn credits called, eggs, seeds & pallets to get rewarded with badges. For example 1hr volunteering gives you one virtual egg.  Collect 25 you get your chick badge. Donate a bag of animal feed and get 10 virtual seeds. Collect 50 to get your calf badge. Bare with me while this develops and watch the video to learn a little bit more. Its the start of an idea *smile*

A chance to hear what its like on the farm early morning as the animals wake up & feeding starts. Just press play.

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We welcome farm visit but please let us know before you come we work with some vulnerable groups so its important for us to know of your visit.  Also please respect our guidelines this video will help *smile*

Well done to our star student Paige who raised money via our volunteers to take in 20 rescue hens from the British Hen Welfare Trust. Paige had help to build a large enclosure with pallets donated by Sydenhams of  Devizes. Other students Sophie, Owen & Olivia helped with the enclosure and making sure all was good for their arrival last Saturday.Thanks to some TLC the hens are laying a few eggs & enjoying some much needed sunshine. Paige hopes to take in more rescue hens, if you can help raise funds for more hens pleased get in touch or donated via our PayPal on the left or contact British Hen Welfare Trust to adopt your own rescue hens via their website > http://www.bhwt.org.uk/ *smile*

It was great to welcome Phil & Mark from Devizes fantasy radio to the farm who hosted their 7-9pm evening show live  at the farm. It was a chance to talk to our volunteers and animals. With Cuthbert our goose being one of the animal stars.  Looking forward to a return visit next year. http://www.fantasyradio.co.uk