On Wednesday last week, I was on the Sandon Estate with a school from Abbey Hulton in Stoke-on-Trent. Our base for the day was the smartly refurbished Parish rooms which now has excellent facilities for toilets, hand washing, as well as a purpose built kitchen. John Millington hosted our morning at Hardiwick Farm where he gave us all an entertaining introduction to dairy farming, with the help of herdsman James Harvey. Mrs B, the Jersey cow and pet of Johns son Nathan, was persuaded with biscuits to meet the children. They were suitably puzzled by the task they were set to assemble the milk filter, but the highlight was watching a row of cows milked. Thanks to Joseph Heler Cheese for supplying some cheese for the children to take back to school! After lunch, we drove across the scenic parkland surrounding Sandon Hall, home of the Earls of Harrowby, to meet foresters Mark Spilsbury and and Trevor Brassington in woodland, where we followed a tree identification trail. The grand finale was a demonstration of equipment, including felling a tree! An outstanding visit according to colleague David Thompson who joined us for the day from his Northumberland farm.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 16:22:08 +0000