Group Visits - The Community Farm

Experience Days

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Experience life on the land through group visits to the farm. Our Experience Days are a fantastic way to learn more about food, farming and nature connection. Below is a guide to some of the opportunities we offer at the farm, we can be flexible in arranging days that fit your needs. We normally suggest a maximum group size of 12, however we can increase this by arrangement.

Thanks to our customer supported Community Fund, if you’re a small not-for-profit organisation working with underrepresented or disadvantaged groups, we can sometimes fund group placements to the farm free of charge. Get in touch with Daisy [AT] thecommunityfarm [DOT] co [DOT] uk to find out more.

Farmer for a Day

Our popular ‘Farmer for a Day’ package aims to give groups the opportunity to find out where their food comes from, learn about organic growing and take part in farming activities. Groups can have a go at being farmers for half a day, a full day or for several days during the growing season (April-October).

Wildlife Ranger for a Day

Join us for a wildlife-focussed session, helping us to manage our land to create a biodiverse and nature-rich landscape. You could be helping us with maintaining our nectar-rich flower borders, bramble bashing, hedgerow care, planting for pollinators, building nest boxes or insect hotels, carrying out wildlife surveys or planting native trees. You’ll learn how to identify native plants, insects and birds, why wildlife is important for farming and how to support biodiversity in a farmed landscape.

Organic Field-to-Fork Pizza Day

With seasonal produce grown here on The Farm, learn how to make delicious thin crust pizzas. You’ll pick your own toppings and create delicious salads from our fields, learning a little about each crop you pick and how we grow it, then use our traditional cob-oven to cook a delicious lunch to share. (please note there is an additional charge for this session to cover ingredients).

Nature Connection Day Course

Facilitated by our experienced partner EcoWild, we will provide your group with the opportunity to connect with the land and each other, learn new skills, release stress, get active and improve personal and group resilience. Your day will be a bespoke programme, and could include a guided foraging walk, learning bushcraft and forest skills, mindfulness practice or making crafts from locally sourced natural materials. You will leave The Farm with new skills to immerse yourself in nature, feeling grounded in yourself and with a connection to the others in your group.

Further details

Example itinerary (full-day ‘Volunteering’ or Experience days)

10:00am: Arrive, welcome, tea and coffee, followed by an introduction to The Farm’s purpose, history and values and a tour of The Farm highlighting our growing methods.

10.45am: Morning of activities, based on the package you have chosen.

12:30pm: Lunch in the Yurt or Roundhouse

1:30pm: Continuation of the day’s activities

2:45pm: Closing circle and goodbyes

3:00pm: Depart

Costs and booking

For a minimum group size of 7 people, our full-day Helping Hands ‘Volunteering’ and Experience Days are charged at a nominal rate of £45 per head, excluding lunch (which can be provided at an additional cost - please enquire), or half-days are charged at £30 per head.

If you would like to join us on The Farm, please get in touch with our Engagement Leader via volunteer [AT] thecommunityfarm [DOT] co [DOT] uk.

We’ll be in touch with you to discuss your requirements and answer any questions you might have.

Workplace Visits

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We are a not-for-profit social enterprise based in the Chew Valley working to provide affordable, nutritious and environmentally-friendly food across Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area. All of our profits fund learning and therapeutic activities for local children, adults and vulnerable people.

Visit The Farm with your organisation to show your support for a local social enterprise, provide valuable volunteering and get access to our beautiful lakeside farm. Perfect for away days, all just a short drive from both Bristol and Bath.

Be sure to check out our workplace packages as a fantastic way to give back to the community.

Volunteering & Experience Days

Joining in with our activities at The Farm is a fantastic way to help us provide organic produce locally while learning about farming and nature. It’s also great for team-building, staff wellbeing and personal development in beautiful countryside surroundings. We invite you to join the Farm in our day-to-day activities, either as a Farmer or Wildlife Ranger. You can also give staff the opportunity to work together in a creative a field-to-fork organic pizza making session, or help them connect with nature on our beautiful patch of Earth

Prices start from as little as £45pp for a full day or £30pp for a half day.

Explore different Experience Days at the farm.

Venue Hire

We can also provide exclusive access to our stunning roundhouse and outdoor learning area, set amongst beautiful plantings and with a view over Chew Valley lake: the perfect location to get away from the office into our stunning local countryside. Tea and coffee is provided and lunch can be arranged for an additional cost.

Find out more about our spaces for hire.

Workplace packages

Our packages combine volunteering, experience days and venue hire.

By buying a package from us, you’ll be making a real difference in your local community; helping us to support underrepresented and disadvantaged groups in the area; and getting nutritious and environmentally-friendly food to as many people as possible.

If you are interested in our packages, please fill in the booking enquiry form or contact volunteer [AT] thecommunityfarm [DOT] co [DOT] uk

School Visits

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We aim to make every school visit to The Community Farm a fun and fruitful learning experience.

Through school visits, we help children to better understand where their food comes from, to discover how it is grown, and to appreciate the importance of healthy eating.

Our education partner, Earthwise, coordinates and leads school visits to the farm and welcomes primary, secondary and pre-school groups.

A visit to The Community Farm not only encourages a greater awareness about food and healthy eating but it can also provide a captivating and memorable way to learn a wide range of curriculum subjects in context.

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Activities

We offer a whole programme of outdoor learning experiences at the farm for children of all ages. Whether you are interested in sustainability, how food is grown, healthy eating, habitats or even climate change, The Community Farm is the perfect place to explore all of these topics through hands-on learning.

Our field-to-fork visits are particularly popular and give children the opportunity to explore where their food comes from, how it is grown and even get their hands dirty harvesting their own vegetables to prepare a seasonal snack! By exploring the variety of wildlife habitats on The Farm we can also find out how some creatures help us to grow our food organically.

We work with teachers to tailor your day trip to complement what you are exploring in school.

For more information about Earthwise Farm Visits please click here.

Staff

Our education partner, Earthwise, coordinates and leads our school visits, along with the support of volunteers. Claire Rosling from Earthwise has been leading visits to the farm for over 9 years. She is CEVAS trained, Forest School Leader qualified, a certified Climate Change educator, First Aid trained, DBS checked and Food Safety trained.

Facilities

Most of the day will be spent out in the fields. However, in the event of bad weather, we have an outdoor shelter and yurt. Toilets and hand-washing facilities are available on site.

Our day trips generally run from 10am to 3pm. However we are flexible with this and can arrange times to suit your requirements.