Jon and Sarah Birchall, Offley Hoo Farm
A visit to Offley Hoo on Open Farm Sunday (12th June) offers a great opportunity to discover more about the story behind your food and so much more. Run by the BBC 2010 Farmer of the Year, Jon Birchall, Offley Hoo 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. Open Farm Sunday also helps strengthen local communities as farmers, local organisations and businesses all come together to invite the public to see how they do this.
The Open Farm Sunday event at Offley Hoo Farm is a great example of communities working together. Supporting Jon and his wife Sarah on the day will be a team of neighbouring farmers, as well as a range of organisations and individuals, including the RSPB. There will be three guided walks about the farm, one specifically aimed at children. There will also be a farmers market – providing an opportunity to meet the producers and taste and buy a wide range of local produce, including meat that is produced on the farm. The local Women’s Institute are providing refreshments alongside a hog roast and BBQ with meat produced on the farm.
Offley Hoo Farm is an outstanding example of how farmers care not only about the food they produce, but the countryside and wildlife too. Visitors can take a tractor and trailer ride to see the cereal crops Jon grows for Hovis and Warburtons – the latter of which is a principal sponsor for Open Farm Sunday. The tour includes a visit to the outdoor pig area and a chance to see the work Jon does to care for the countryside and enhance the landscape. This includes the extensive grassland, none of which is treated with fertilizer, the 170 parkland trees and 4km of hedgerows he has planted – some of which are to replenish existing hedges which are up to 400 hundred years old. Visitors will see the beetle banks, field margins and fallow plots all of which help to encourage wildlife such as the Grey Partridge and Lapwings. New activities for the children include helping to complete a 20 metre long collage depicting the theme of this year’s event at Offley Hoo - ‘Farming in the Chilterns’ and a chance to ‘grow their own farm’ to take away. A local farrier will be demonstrating making horseshoes and visitors can also learn how oilseed rape is pressed to make oil.
Contact: Jon or Sarah Birchall, Offley Hoo Farm. Offley Hoo Lane, Offley Hitchin SG5 3ED
Tel: 01462 769302
Website: www.offleyhoofarm.co.uk
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 Offley Hoo Farm or an interview with Jon or Sarah Birchall 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