Elsa Amiss

March on the most southerly point of mainland Britain has been a busy one with lambing starting, farmers markets ramping up and visitors starting to return to Cornwall. Fortunately, the weather has been largely good for outdoor lambing with all our lambs being born out in the field, only coming into the barn for a short period to be recorded on our exciting new records program, Agriwebb. The arrival of lambs has bought enormous excitement to the public who walk along the coast path to The Lizard Point. While the bad press about sheep can get all farmers down sometimes, the joy of the public when they see that lambs in the field reminds me of the genuine happiness that people feel at the sight of new life in the countryside.

Education is vital to turn those happy feelings upon seeing a field of lambs into support for British agriculture and food. We hosted our first school visit of the year this week with 23 2- to 5-year-olds from the local school. It was a gentle reintroduction to visits post covid and before almost 200 children visit us in the weeks leading up to Easter.

A visit to cuddle lambs and feed ewes handfuls of hay may, on the face if it, have limited value within the nation curriculum, but we are very lucky to have teachers that see beyond those curriculum targets. The opportunity for children to walk to the farm where they can experience learning with all their senses, holding spiky hay and fluffy lambs or smelling the silage and the muck, is something many children no longer have the opportunity to do. Even learning to climb gates, roll down hills or how to rescue your welly when it gets stuck in the mud are learning opportunities, developing life skills such as problem solving, while also learning to respect and love the British countryside. The most important part of school visits for us is to give children the opportunity to see the enthusiasm and dedication that goes into producing their food, and hopefully these experiences will help them make better, more informed decisions about food and the countryside in the future.