A landed estates business which manages resources in South Staffordshire has held an agriculture open day for city youngsters.
Bradford Estates welcomed 140 schoolchildren to Woodlands Farm in Weston-under-Lizard.
They learned about farming and forestry across the 12,000 acres which the company manages on the Staffordshire-Shropshire borders.
Topics covered during the open day included farm machinery, soil, wildflower seeds and sheep.
Year 4 pupils from Woden Primary School and Christ Church Junior School, both in Wolverhampton, took part in the open day, the first to be hosted by the business, along with 15 pupils in years 3 to 6 from Chuckery Primary School in Walsall.
Bradford Estates Managing Director Alexander Newport welcomed the visitors to the event, which saw the young visitors get close to the Bradford Sheep flock, with expert insights from partner shepherd Alec Hough, who manages the animals on behalf of Bradford Estates.
Lindsay Godfrey, Assistant Headteacher at Woden Primary, said: “The visit has been a fantastic opportunity for our children to experience the countryside in a new way. They have taken so much from the visit as it has allowed them to see farming first hand.
“The range of activities has given them a context for farming and the natural world.
“Many of them have seen animals they have never seen up close before, they have been in a tractor and they have gone home with stories which they can talk about for a long time to come.”
- Bradford Estates’ stewardship extends to the Staffordshire villages of High Onn and Great Chatwell.
