It was certainly a good day for a picnic – or a hog roast – or just looking at the farm animals, an amazing array of farm machinery and the wonderful and very fertile landscape.
Open Farm Sunday (June 10) at Temple Farm, Rockley drew a huge crowd – by lunch time there were so many cars they had make a bigger car park.
There were queues for the trailer rides round the farm – one of the trailer loads had retiring farm manager Chris Musgrave as their commentator. And with Temple Farming being part of the Marlborough Downs Space for Nature organisation there was a lot more to explain than just what crop they were passing.
The farm’s owner, Konrad Goess-Saurau, has transformed – after 33 years hard work – the farm’s landscape from a 2,000 acres arable farm with a declining number of hedges, trees and wildlife, into a wildlife haven. It is all about, as the slogan says on the welcome leaflet: “Combining modern day farming with a care for the environment.”
On show from East Farm, Avebury – and attracting attention – were some striking new arrivals to the Marlborough Downs: ‘Boer goats’ – where ‘boer’ means ‘farmer’. They are the only goats reared world wide for their meat. And it is meat that is becoming more popular in Britain – providing meat that has less fat than lamb.
There were plants to buy and a mini farmers market and plenty to amuse children of many ages. This was a community display put on by the Marlborough Downs farmers with a lot of help from Wiltshire Young Farmers, the Avebury Henge Shop (for very welcome ice creams), St George’s Church, Preshute (a pop-up tea room) and a large variety of other helpers – including the Co-op.
And here’s a date for the 2019 diary: next year’s Open Farm Sunday will be on June 9.
We’ll miss you Miss Lemon – Pewsey Wool Shop closing
