A group of 24 children from Beccles Primary Academy in Suffolk visited our sister Estate Gawdy Hall in Harleston, South Norfolk, to learn all about nature, food and farming.

The trip was organised by The Country Trust, an educational charity which connects children who are least likely to have access to the countryside with real farms and the land that sustains us all.

As well as learning about crops grown on the Estate, they had a tour of the beehives and heard about the importance of all types of bees – from the Queen to Drone Bees and Worker Bees - to pollination on the farm.

They visited Gawdy’s flock of sheep and lambs who were grazing in the water meadows and met shepherdess Hannah. She explained the three different breeds on the Estate and gave a demonstration of how her sheepdog Roo gathers the sheep. A highlight for many of the children was the opportunity to stroke a lamb.

All the children were treated to a tractor and trailer ride, which took in a tour of a field of spring oats which, when harvested, will be made into food products such as breakfast cereals and flapjacks.

They walked to a field of Wildfarmed regenerative wheat with its companion crop of beans and were shown how to work out how many seeds need to be planted per square metre to harvest enough grains to make a number of loaves of bread.

In a barley field they discovered how barley is used to make all sorts of products including beer, malt vinegar and Maltesers.

They then took part in a challenge to find five different grass seed heads from various plants before tucking into lunch in Gawdy’s Victorian walled garden and a final look at a tractor, drill and sprayer with the help of farming contractor Rob Alexander.

Luke Galea-Pace, Year 4 class teacher at Beccles Primary Academy, said: SouthThe trip was fantastic and was a real highlight for many of our year 4 children. The dedication and enthusiasm of the Gawdy Hall team is a real joy.” 

Gawdy Hall Estate Manager Mark Mayhew said: “We love welcoming school children to the Estate and showing them the important work we do here.

“It was an action-packed day and great to be able to show the children all the different things we’re doing on the Estate from the variety of crops we grow and the value of wildflowers and bees to the Rare Breed Survival Trust sheep we rear.”

Sarah Davey, Farm Discovery Visit Coordinator for Suffolk for The Country Trust, said: “I'm really grateful to everyone at Gawdy Hall for making this visit possible again this year. Without farmer hosts we cannot do this incredibly important work.

“We believe that every child should have the opportunity to visit a farm and discover first-hand the connections between the food they eat, their own health and the health of the planet.”