Alison Park, Low Sizergh Farm
A visit to Low Sizergh Farm on Open Farm Sunday (12th June) offers a great opportunity to discover the story behind your food and so much more. Run by the Park family, Low Sizergh Farm is also a member of LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), the organisers of Open Farm Sunday. LEAF is a registered charity that assists farmers and producers, to manage their farms as efficiently and sustainably as possible which as a result, helps them to produce good food with environmental care.
It was John and Marjorie Park that first rented Low Sizergh from the National Trust in 1980. Today it’s their son Richard and his sister Alison who run the 275 acre farm, which is home to a mixed herd of 150 dairy cows and 700 free range hens. The Park’s are currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of their farm shop and tea room– both of which are committed to local sourcing, something they feel very passionately about. The milk from their own cows is used by local producers to produce delicious cheeses and ice cream – some of which will be available to taste and buy on Open Farm Sunday. This includes cheese made by third generation cheese maker, Chris Sandham who makes a traditional crumbly Lancashire cheese. The Park’s are also the sole supplier of milk to the Windermere Ice Cream Company – because of its quality and provenance.
One of the reasons the Park’s are opening their gates for Open Farm Sunday is because they believe that this is a great way to help consumers understand all the hard work farmers put into both producing good food and caring for the countryside. They recommend visitors follow the two mile farm trail which goes across the fields, past a pond and a reed bed that Richard created and alongside the woods – all of which are home to a wide variety of wildlife including roe deer. The trail will also pass by vegetable plots run by the award-winning social enterprise charity Growing Well, which help members of the local community to get back to work through involvement in growing fresh produce. There will be a display of some of the farm machinery used on the farm and then you can finish the tour at the team rooms and watching the cows being milked - a great way to end the day!
Contact: Alison Park, Low Sizergh Farm, Low Sizergh Farm, Sizergh Kendal Cumbria LA8 8AE
Website: www.lowsizerghbarn.co.uk
Tel: 015395 60426
For more information visit www.farmsunday.org and for up-to-date campaign information, follow us on Twitter – twitter.com/openfarmsunday
To arrange a visit to Low Sizergh Farm or an interview with Alison or Richard contact:
David Gough or Laura Bates
Open Farm Sunday Press Office
T: 01189 475956 M : 07884 353 474
E: david.gough@ceres-pr.co.uk / laura.bates@ceres-pr.co.uk