The Park Farm Year

2007 was a difficult year for farmers, although it started well with the warm weather in April. The rain which followed led to the building being flooded three times and the sheer volume of water lowered the fertility of the walled garden by washing out nutrients. The warm wet conditions also resulted in a plague of slugs and snails and a variety of plant diseases, which lowered the yield still further.

The heavy rain also affected events on the showground, causing the Historic Vehicle Show to finish early to prevent vehicles becoming bogged down. Problems with the weather were followed closely by the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. A lot of visitors asked why we were taking so many precautions when the outbreak was so far away. Unfortunately the outbreak started at the beginning of the school holidays, so we couldn't take the chance of visitors arriving at the farm from areas affected. Some of our rare breeds are highly endangered, so they could not be put at risk.

2008 will hopefully be better, although as I write this the weather seems to be staging a repeat performance and the showground is very wet.  Unfortunately a fox managed to get into the walled garden and killed several ducks, before burrowing out under the gates, so our slug hunters are no more. The gardeners are busy digging in manure and and leaf mould to restore the fertility of the soil. On the farm we are looking forward to lambing, which will start around the third week in February. The Hereford herd is growing rapidly and we are just starting our third year of keeping them.With Easter early this year, at the end of March, events planning is under way and the first event of the year will be our lambing weekend over the Easter Bank Holiday.

This year has been designated the Year of Food and Farming and both farms have been accredited for educational visits under CEVAS(Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme). Bookings are already starting to build up for the 2008 schools season, so teachers need to contact us quickly if they want to visit us.