LEAF Open Farm Sun­day is farming’s annu­al open day and has been the go-to event in the cal­en­dar since 2006, offer­ing a won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty for vis­i­tors to get clos­er to farm­ing and the peo­ple that make it hap­pen. Each event is unique, each farm is dif­fer­ent and every farmer too, but what they all share is a pas­sion for farm­ing, amaz­ing exper­tise, and a com­mit­ment to car­ing for the countryside.

Some farms have been passed down through the gen­er­a­tions, oth­ers are man­aged by those who have cho­sen farm­ing as their career; each has its own spe­cial sto­ry to tell and LEAF Open Farm Sun­day is the ide­al chance to come and hear it. Farm­ers may have a host of activ­i­ties planned such as guid­ed farm walks and nature trails, bug hunts and soil pits, trac­tor and trail­er rides, dis­plays of mod­ern, high tech farm machin­ery and more!

Come and meet the farm­ers, their fam­i­lies and oth­er indus­try pro­fes­sion­als, dis­cov­er first-hand how farm­ers sup­port our well­be­ing through their care of the envi­ron­ment, the sus­tain­able pro­duc­tion of our food and how they man­age the coun­try­side to help work towards net zero and mit­i­gat­ing cli­mate change. Togeth­er they man­age valu­able resources like water and soil, and habi­tats for wildlife to thrive. Dis­cov­er all that goes into pro­duc­ing the food we eat and the many oth­er ways that farm­ers con­tribute to our dai­ly lives.

Read some of our LOFS host farm­ers sto­ries below: 

Scot­land:

Hill­head of Ardo Farm, Meth­lick, Aberdeen­shire www​.ardochrist​mas​trees​.co​.uk

Jean and Roger Glen­nie run Hill­head of Ardo Farm; a fam­i­ly Christ­mas tree farm just out­side Meth­lick in Aberdeen­shire
The 150-acre farm is cur­rent­ly grow­ing 30,000 con­tain­er grown (“ liv­ing”) Christ­mas trees – this type of Christ­mas tree will appeal to the sus­tain­abil­i­ty con­scious con­sumer, as they are grown in a pot so that after the Christ­mas peri­od those who don’t want to plant the tree in their own gar­den, can bring it back to the farm to be replant­ed in a plan­ta­tion to spend the rest of its days. A trend which is grow­ing in pop­u­lar­i­ty, with Jean and Roger being the only farm­ers to offer trees a new for­ev­er home

This is the farm’s third LEAF Open Farm Sun­day (11^th June 2023, 10am — 4pm), with vis­i­tors on the day hav­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see how the per­fect Christ­mas tree is grown, from the ground prep and plant­i­ng, to treat­ment and har­vest­ing, join guid­ed walks of the farm and the sapling plan­ta­tion, see machin­ery dis­play, vin­tage trac­tor & var­i­ous exhibitors and trade stands, as well as explore the mini Christ­mas tree maize.

If Hill­head of Ardo Farm isn’t close enough, then here are three oth­er Scot­land farms that you could vis­it on LEAF Open Farm Sunday:

Lyne Mhor Croft, Inver­ness (11^th June 2023, 10.30am — 4.30pm) is home to rare breed Oxford Sandy and Black Pigs, Tex­el cross Sheep, hens, ducks and turkeys

Guardswell Farm, Perthshire (11^th June 2023, 10am – 4pm) is a 170-acre grass­land farm- with a range of farm­ing enter­pris­es includ­ing a small chem­i­cal free mar­ket gar­den, a flock of Hebridean sheep and a small herd of ango­ra goats www​.guardswell​.co​.uk

Low Auld­girth Steading, Dum­fries (11^th June 2023, 10am – 4pm) is home to native breeds of sheep, pigs, geese and chick­ens https://​www​.lowauld​girth​.co​.uk

South West

Corn­hill Farm, Corn­wall https://​corn​hill​farm​.co​.uk/

The Olds fam­i­ly have been farm­ing at Corn­hill since 1912 when Har­ry Olds moved from Lelant. Since then they have grad­u­al­ly expand­ed the farm to more than 500 acres as it stands today

The fam­i­ly has 14,000 free range hens and farm 350 acres of land for grow­ing crops to feed the chickens

Short­ly before the pan­dem­ic, the Olds made the deci­sion to move away from the retail­er part­ner­ship that they had been in since 2002, to focus on sell­ing their eggs local­ly. This move proved to be huge­ly suc­cess­ful, espe­cial­ly dur­ing the nation­al lock­downs, with them now sell­ing all their eggs to the local com­mu­ni­ty includ­ing many local businesses

Unlike the major­i­ty of LOFS farm events, Cornhill’s is tak­ing place two weeks lat­er on 25^th June between 11am – 3pm

Vis­i­tors on the day will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet the ani­mals, see a sta­t­ic machin­ery dis­play, as well as enjoy trac­tor and trail­er rides. They can also do pond dip­ping, pack and grade eggs and enjoy a farm walk.

If Corn­hill Farm isn’t close enough, then here are three oth­er farms in the South West that you could vis­it on LEAF Open Farm Sunday:

Cot­tage Farm, Jacob­stow, Corn­wall (11^th June 2023, 2pm – 4pm) is a regen­er­a­tive live­stock farm pow­ered by renew­able energy

Black­ber­ry Farm, Devon (11^th June 2023, 10am – 4pm) is home to cows, sheep, don­keys, Alpacas, hors­es and goats www​.black​ber​ry​farmshop​.co​.uk

The Slow Farm­ing Com­pa­ny, Som­er­set (11^th June 2023, 11am – 3pm) is a 180-acre organ­ic and regen­er­a­tive farm pro­duc­ing grass fed beef, pas­tured eggs and pas­tured pork https://​www​.slow​farm​ing​.co​.uk

North East and Yorkshire 

Rock House Farm, Bedale, North York­shire https://​www​.rock​house​meats​.co​.uk/

Rock House Farm has been run by two gen­er­a­tions of the Peach fam­i­ly (made up of David, Sheena, Tom and Zoe Peach) for 6.5 years, since they inher­it­ed the farm from a late uncle

They start­ed with noth­ing and now the farm is home to a small herd of Here­ford cat­tle, a num­ber of rare breed Berk­shire pigs, as well as a flock of ewes and lambs, which are raised on the farm’s ancient hay mead­ows — which make up a quar­ter of the land they farm

The fam­i­ly prides itself on pro­duc­ing good qual­i­ty, local and afford­able food, which has the low­est pos­si­ble impact on the envi­ron­ment, which is why all the farm’s pro­duce is sold in the Rock House Farm Shop

This is the farm’s sixth LEAF Open Farm Sun­day and unlike the major­i­ty of LOFS farm events, Rock House Farm’s is tak­ing place two weeks pri­or on 28^th May between 10am – 4pm. Vis­i­tors on the day will enjoy farm­ing machin­ery demon­stra­tions, hay mead­ow walks, ani­mal wel­fare talks and much more.

If Rock House Farm isn’t close enough, then here are three oth­er farms in the North East and York­shire that you could vis­it on LEAF Open Farm Sunday:

White Quar­ry Farm, North York­shire (11^th June 2023, 10am – 1pm) is an arable farm with some grass­land for sheep and hors­es http://​www​.broom​house​durham​.co​.uk

Broom House, Coun­ty Durham (11^th June 2023, 11am – 3pm) is a live­stock farm with Aberdeen Angus cows and Lleyn sheep.

Curlew Fields Farm, York (11^th June 2023, 11am – 4pm) is a mod­ern work­ing dairy farm. Vis­i­tors on the day can meet the ani­mals and go on a farm tour.

Wales

Rhual Dairy, Flintshire, North Wales 

Rhual Dairy is a 550-acre dairy farm in rur­al North Wales run by fourth gen­er­a­tion farmer John Booth and his wife Anna

Main­ly a grass­land farm, Rhual Dairy has 330 cows for milk­ing, they also rear 180 young­stock, breed Dorset sheep and grow maize, wheat and barley

The LEAF Open Farm Sun­day event at Rhual Dairy will take place between 2pm – 5pm on 11^th June, with vis­i­tors hav­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see the milk­ing pro­cess­ing, meet the cows and calves, as well as join­ing guid­ed farm walks.

If Rhual Dairy isn’t close enough, then here are three oth­er farms in the Wales that you could vis­it on LEAF Open Farm Sunday:

Parc Grace Dieu Farm, Mon­mouthshire (11^th June 2023, 1.30pm – 5pm) is a sheep farm. Vis­i­tors on the day can meet the ani­mals, go on a guid­ed farm tour, see a sta­t­ic machin­ery dis­play and learn about sci­ence in farming

Gel­li Aur Farm, Coleg Sir Gar, Car­marthen­shire (11^th June 2023, 12pm – 4pm) is a dairy and sheep farm. Vis­i­tors can meet the ani­mals, see a machin­ery demon­stra­tion and go on a host­ed farm tour

Hend­wr, Den­bighshire (11^th June 2023, 11.00am – 2.30pm) is a fam­i­ly farm with sheep and cat­tle. On the day vis­i­tors can meet the ani­mals, join a guid­ed farm tour, see a sta­t­ic machin­ery dis­play and learn about sci­ence in farming.

LEAF Open Farm Sun­day is a fan­tas­tic expe­ri­ence for all ages – vis­it www​.farm​sun​day​.org to find a farm open­ing near you.