Join us for top tips and support!

Whether you are host­ing your first Open Farm Sun­day event or an expe­ri­enced host look­ing for new ideas, we have a fab­u­lous pro­gramme of webi­na­rs and meet­ings to sup­port you.

Fol­low­ing the huge suc­cess of last year’s in-per­son host farmer meet­ing in Northamp­ton­shire, we’re organ­is­ing two in-per­son meet­ings in March 2025 — in York­shire and in Berk­shire. Plus we have our reg­u­lar series of Zoom webi­na­rs to sup­port you along your OFS jour­ney and to con­nect you with like-mind­ed host farm­ers and indus­try pro­fes­sion­als to bring inspi­ra­tion to your event. All our meet­ings fea­ture farm­ers shar­ing their OFS expe­ri­ence and sto­ries. See details below and reg­is­ter to join us — we look for­ward to see­ing you soon!

In-per­son Host Farmer Meetings

Join us for a day of inspir­ing pre­sen­ta­tions and prac­ti­cal work­shops to equip you with new ideas, skills and con­fi­dence to host an OFS event this June. With pre­sen­ta­tions by expe­ri­enced host farm­ers and work­shops led by LEAF Edu­ca­tion Spe­cial­ists, these meet­ings promise to ignite ideas for your event!
Two places FREE per farm; addi­tion­al places £45 per person 

• York­shire — Stock­bridge Tech­nol­o­gy Cen­tre, Sel­by YO8 3TZ
  • 20^th March 2025, 10:30am to 4pm
    
  • Speak­ers include: Tom and Zoe Peach (Rock House Farm), Helen Rhodes (New Hall Farm), Sam Wyman (OFS vol­un­teer at Curlew Fields Farm, and LEAF Edu­ca­tion Spe­cial­ist run­ning a hands-on work­shop) and OFS Man­ag­er, Annabel Shackleton
  • Book your tick­ets to attend here: https://​www​.try​book​ing​.com/​u​k​/EFAV

• Berk­shire — Yat­ten­don Estate, Thatch­am RG18 0UT
  • 26^th March 2025, 10:30am to 4pm
  • Speak­ers include: Nick Down (Yat­ten­don Estate), Thomas Edwards (Sev­ern­dale Farm), Olly Pem­ber­ton (Wad­de­ston Estate), Jes­si­ca Good­win (Cos­tow Farm Pro­duce), Jo Hat­ton (OFS vol­un­teer at Brix­ey’s Farm, and LEAF Edu­ca­tion Spe­cial­ist run­ning a hands-on work­shop) and OFS Man­ag­er, Annabel Shackleton
  • Book your tick­ets to attend here: https://​www​.try​book​ing​.com/​u​k​/EFNR
    
    

Online Zoom webi­na­rs:

Each Zoom webi­nar will be 30 min­utes of pre­sen­ta­tions and dis­cus­sion, fol­lowed by 15 min­utes Q&A to get your ques­tions answered.

• All about Open Farm Sun­day 2025
  Lis­ten to arable and live­stock farmer, Andy Bason, and fruit grow­er, Lau­ra Bai­ley, talk about their Open Farm Sun­day expe­ri­ence — both have host­ed six OFS events.
  Watch the webi­nar here (record­ed 29^th Jan.)

• Dis­cov­er OFS — host­ing your first OFS event!
  Find out how first time hosts, dairy farmer Lor­na Bur­dge, and live­stock farmer, Kate Big­wood, organ­ised their Open Farm Sun­day events – an OFS ​‘lite’ option and a ​‘full’ open day.
  Watch the first of our first time host­ing webi­na­rs here (record­ed 11^th Feb.)
  
  
• Tick­et­ing events and how to use Try­Book­ing
  A look at the FREE tick­et­ing sys­tem, Try­Book­ing with Man­ag­ing Direc­tor, Joan Lind, and find out how it can ben­e­fit you, your Open Farm Sun­day event and oth­er events you might run through­out the year.
  Watch the webi­nar here (record­ed 27^th Feb.)

• **NEXT LIVE ZOOM** Pub­lic­i­ty and how to boost vis­i­tor num­bers
  Join us to dis­cuss mar­ket­ing your Open Farm Sun­day event and how to boost vis­i­tor numbers.
  • Tues­day 11^th March @ 2pm - reg­is­ter here.
    
    
• Plan­ning and logis­tics
  This meet­ing will focus on logis­tics for your OFS event and man­ag­ing vis­i­tors to your farm.
• Wednes­day 2^nd April @ 10am - reg­is­ter here.
  
  

• Activ­i­ty ideas and shar­ing your farm­ing sto­ry
  Get some great ideas on how you can share your farm­ing sto­ry and engage vis­i­tors dur­ing your Open Farm Sun­day event.
  • Tues­day 29^th April @ 2pm - reg­is­ter here.
    
    

• Health and safe­ty con­sid­er­a­tions for your event
  Join us for this lunchtime meet­ing look­ing at health and safe­ty to pro­tect the vis­i­tors on your farm as well as your helpers.
  • Wednes­day 7^th May @ 1pm — reg­is­ter here.
    
    
• Last minute ques­tions and sup­port
  Join us for this lunchtime meet­ing to con­sid­er health and safe­ty aspects of your event, includ­ing hand­wash­ing top tips and doing an event risk assessment.
  • Thurs­day 29^th May @ 2pm - reg­is­ter here.
    

Can’t wait? If want to talk through your Open Farm Sun­day event today, get in touch: [email protected] Tel: 02476413911 — more con­tact details are here.

Share your support!

Encour­age your farm­ing con­tacts, friends and net­works to get involved and join in the OFS con­ver­sa­tions on social media:

• Twit­ter: @openfarmsunday #OFS25
• Face­book: @LEAFopenfarmsunday
• Insta­gram: @openfarmsunday

Top tips from our OFS Ambas­sadors:

Rebec­ca Dawes — OFS Ambas­sador, Scotland 

“Nev­er be afraid to ask for help, it is such a reward­ing day for every­one involved. Your vet, local feed mer­chant, machin­ery deal­er, agron­o­mist or farm advi­sor could give a small talk about what they do and maybe bring a few props like ani­mal feed or wheat seed. A ​“Farmer Ques­tion Time” always goes down well at our event, where local farm­ers each vol­un­teer to do a 15-minute slot to answer questions.”

Anne Mair-Chap­man — OFS Ambas­sador, North East 

“Make your event fun, friend­ly and for­get the farm­ing jar­gon! After the year we’ve all had, your event needs to feel like a bit of light relief in the fresh air. An infor­mal intro­duc­tion as peo­ple arrive is some­times all it takes to get the ques­tions going — remem­ber your audi­ence and think of oth­er ways to describe the work you do, farm­ing terms are not always self-explanatory!”

Rona Amiss — OFS Ambas­sador, South West 

“Get lots of help from neigh­bours, friends and any­one else you can think of! It makes it much more fun and every­one enjoys themselves.”

Helen Chap­pell — OFS Ambas­sador, North West 

“This is the year to host! The pub­lic are want­i­ng to con­nect with farms and the envi­ron­ment — not just to learn about the farm­ing life but also for the health and well­be­ing ben­e­fits. The sup­port and guid­ance is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble and the ambas­sadors are here to help. The gen­er­al pub­lic are just as appre­hen­sive as the farm­ing com­mu­ni­ty, but they too are deter­mined to embrace the new nor­mal, Covid safe way of doing things.”

Andy Guy — OFS Ambas­sador, Midlands

“Plan ahead
The most suc­cess­ful events are those where the hosts have planned for every even­tu­al­i­ty. Think about car park­ing, helpers and vol­un­teers, health and safe­ty, activ­i­ties for kids and fam­i­lies, pro­mo­tion and what you can do if it rains. If its all sort­ed before the big day you will have a stress-free event.

On the day.
Brief your helpers in advance so every­one knows what they are doing and what your vis­i­tors can see and do. Once the first vis­i­tors start to arrive all you need to do is acti­vate your plan and enjoy the day! If you’ve planned well and have con­tin­gen­cies for things like weath­er it should all go smoothly.

After the event.
Thank your helpers, tidy up and crack open a beer/​cup of tea and relax. Share mem­o­ries of the day with your helpers, update your Face­book page with some pho­tos and start think­ing about the next one!”

If you would like to talk through your Open Farm Sun­day event ideas now, get in touch with a OFS ambas­sador today — you can find the OFS team’s con­tact details here.