Join us for top tips and support!

Whether you are a first-time farmer or an expe­ri­enced host who is open­ing the gates with Open Farm Sun­day, join us for a Zoom meet­ing to con­nect and bring inspi­ra­tion to your event. 

Online Zoom meet­ings:

• Where to start! (plan­ning)
  An intro­duc­tion to Open Farm Sun­day and guid­ance on plan­ning your event. [30 minute pre­sen­ta­tion + 15 minute Q&A]
  Wednes­day 27^th March @ 12:30 pm
  Fri­day 5^th April @ 10:00 am
  Wednes­day 10^th April @ 18:30 pm
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• Man­ag­ing vis­i­tors num­bers (tick­et­ing)
  Join us for this lunchtime meet­ing look­ing at man­ag­ing vis­i­tor num­bers at your Open Farm Sun­day (OFS) event. [30 minute pre­sen­ta­tion + 15 minute Q&A]
  Mon­day 11^th March @ 12:30 pm
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• Our new OFS resources (sup­port)
  A look at the range of resources avail­able for you to pro­mote your Open Farm Sun­day (OFS) event, and to help share your farm­ing sto­ry on the day. [30 minute pre­sen­ta­tion + 15 minute Q&A]
  Thurs­day 18^th April @ 12:30 pm
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• How best to pro­mote your event (mar­ket­ing)
  Join us for this evening meet­ing focussing on mar­ket­ing your Open Farm Sun­day (OFS) event. [30 minute pre­sen­ta­tion + 15 minute Q&A]
  Tues­day 30^th April @ 18:30 pm
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• Inspir­ing your vis­i­tors (activ­i­ty ideas)
  Join us for this lunchtime meet­ing focussing on shar­ing your farm­ing sto­ry and some engag­ing activ­i­ty ideas for vis­i­tors to your Open Farm Sun­day (OFS) event. [30 minute pre­sen­ta­tion + 15 minute Q&A]
  Thurs­day 9^th May @ 12:30 pm
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• Last-minute ques­tions and sup­port
  Join us for this evening meet­ing to answer any last-minute ques­tions on host­ing your Open Farm Sun­day (OFS) event. [30 minute pre­sen­ta­tion + 15 minute Q&A]
  Wednes­day 22^nd May @ 18:30 pm

Can’t wait? If want to talk through your Open Farm Sun­day event today, get in touch — all con­tact details are here.

Share your support!

Encour­age your farm­ing con­tacts, friends and net­works to get involved and join in the LOFS con­ver­sa­tions on social media:

• Twit­ter: @openfarmsunday #OFS24
• Face­book: @openfarmsunday
• Insta­gram: @openfarmsunday

Top tips from our OFS Ambas­sadors:

Rebec­ca Dawes — OFS Ambas­sador, Scotland 

“Nev­er be afraid to ask for help, it is such a reward­ing day for every­one involved. Your vet, local feed mer­chant, machin­ery deal­er, agron­o­mist or farm advi­sor could give a small talk about what they do and maybe bring a few props like ani­mal feed or wheat seed. A ​“Farmer Ques­tion Time” always goes down well at our event, where local farm­ers each vol­un­teer to do a 15-minute slot to answer questions.”

Anne Mair-Chap­man — OFS Ambas­sador, North East 

“Make your event fun, friend­ly and for­get the farm­ing jar­gon! After the year we’ve all had, your event needs to feel like a bit of light relief in the fresh air. An infor­mal intro­duc­tion as peo­ple arrive is some­times all it takes to get the ques­tions going — remem­ber your audi­ence and think of oth­er ways to describe the work you do, farm­ing terms are not always self-explanatory!”

Rona Amiss — OFS Ambas­sador, South West 

“Get lots of help from neigh­bours, friends and any­one else you can think of! It makes it much more fun and every­one enjoys themselves.”

Helen Chap­pell — OFS Ambas­sador, North West 

“This is the year to host! The pub­lic are want­i­ng to con­nect with farms and the envi­ron­ment — not just to learn about the farm­ing life but also for the health and well­be­ing ben­e­fits. The sup­port and guid­ance is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble and the ambas­sadors are here to help. The gen­er­al pub­lic are just as appre­hen­sive as the farm­ing com­mu­ni­ty, but they too are deter­mined to embrace the new nor­mal, Covid safe way of doing things.”

Andy Guy — OFS Ambas­sador, Midlands

“Plan ahead
The most suc­cess­ful events are those where the hosts have planned for every even­tu­al­i­ty. Think about car park­ing, helpers and vol­un­teers, health and safe­ty, activ­i­ties for kids and fam­i­lies, pro­mo­tion and what you can do if it rains. If its all sort­ed before the big day you will have a stress-free event.

On the day.
Brief your helpers in advance so every­one knows what they are doing and what your vis­i­tors can see and do. Once the first vis­i­tors start to arrive all you need to do is acti­vate your plan and enjoy the day! If you’ve planned well and have con­tin­gen­cies for things like weath­er it should all go smoothly.

After the event.
Thank your helpers, tidy up and crack open a beer/​cup of tea and relax. Share mem­o­ries of the day with your helpers, update your Face­book page with some pho­tos and start think­ing about the next one!”

If you would like to talk through your Open Farm Sun­day event ideas now, get in touch with a LOFS ambas­sador today — you can find the OFS team’s con­tact details here.