Rhug Estate, the renowned organic farm owned and run by Lord Newborough, is engaging young people in the field-to-fork journey with a series of workshops. Hosted on the farm in Denbighshire, Wales, the workshops are designed to educate younger children and students on where their food comes from and how it is made.
The ‘Little Farmers’ series involves a farm tour led by Rhug Estate farm manager Gareth Jones, where children aged 4 – 11 visit free-range sheep, cows, bison, chickens, geese and turkeys in their natural habitat and learn about how they are bred on an organic farm. The children make their own beef burgers with the butcher and have a tasting session of cooked organic burgers, freshly prepared by the Bison Grill chef. The Little Farmers field-to-fork experience helps children discover where their food comes from and what happens in the countryside surrounding them, encouraging positive change and environmental awareness for the next generation.
Rhug Estate hosts a more in-depth and advanced session aimed at school leavers and university students who are studying or starting out a career in catering and agriculture. A farm tour is followed by a trip to the Rhug Estate cutting plant, where cutting plant manager Gary Jones hosts a session on different cuts of meat, the butchery team, and how butchery works. Testing their listening skills and how much they have learnt from the trip, the students are then challenged with a Q&A session in the Bison Grill Bistro before sitting down for a meal of organic meat.
Lord Newborough, owner of Rhug Estate said: “The benefits of field-to-fork education are second to none as it helps children and students make better links between the meals they eat, food production, cooking and healthy eating – which is a crucial learning in life. We have hosted a number of school and college groups here at Rhug in the past few years and the feedback has been brilliant, so we look forward to welcoming more eager learners throughout 2015 and 2016."
The Rhug Estate Little Farmers and student tours are available to book now and last approximately half a day. Schools and colleges can get in touch with Gwen Williams at Rhug Estate on 01490 413 000 to book or find out more information.
