Visit a Farm on Open Farm Sunday

The Allen-Stevens family are third generation farmers of Wicklesham Farm. Mum and dad, Cheryl and Tom, along with children Georgie (16), Annabel (14), Ted (11) and Freddie (10) live on the 370 acre farm, set in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside.

Life on the farm for the Allen-Stevens family is never dull and always busy. Although his dad and grandad were farmers, Tom didn’t always want to follow in their footsteps - it was whilst working on the family farm during the school holidays that he decided farming was the career for him.  So once he had finished college, Tom joined his dad on the farm. In those days, although they grew some crops, the farm was also home to a dairy herd. Today, the farm is almost 100% arable – the term for a farm that grows crops like the wheat and oilseed that you’ll find at Wicklesham Farm. The farm also has a small farm shop, which has become the heart of the local community; they even sell free range eggs from their own flock of chickens.

All of the children try to get involved with the farm as much as they can around their school work. Ted gets up early to let the hens out and feed them before school; once home, he collects the eggs they have laid throughout the day. The farm has plenty of woodland, meadows and trails, and on the weekend Ted and Freddie can be found building dens and taking photographs of the wildlife on Ted’s new camera.

Georgie likes to spend time in the farm shop with her mum because she gets to meet all the families who come to enjoy the homemade delights such as scones, cakes and biscuits. During the summer, Annabel takes her brothers and sister on picnics around the farm and enjoys preparing the picnic food with her mum in the kitchen.

The Allen-Stevens family always extend a warm welcome to visitors to their farm, whether they come to explore the farm on walks or to catch up over tea and cake in the farm shop. They are especially looking forward to Open Farm Sunday on 13 June 2010 when Wicklesham Farm, along with hundreds of farms across the country, will be opening its gates to the public. The day offers the perfect opportunity to meet the farmers who grow your food and see how they look after the countryside around you. Your visit could include a tractor and trailer ride, seeing sheep being sheared, cows being milked or even chicks hatching! Last year 425 farms opened across England, Scotland and Wales to find a farm participating near you this year visit www.farmsunday.org.