Year 1 thoroughly enjoy tour of Peterley Farm

On Thursday Year 1 were lucky enough to be invited to have a tour of Peterley Farm. Farmer Roger and Mrs Coldwell welcomed us and we set off on our tour. We were shown the fields where the crops such as pumpkins were grown. In the distance we could see all the big Christmas trees being grown, some of them may be famous one day as Farmer Roger sells them to all sorts of places including television companies for their sets.

We walked through the Orchard and learnt how the apple crops are harvested. Farmer Roger named his daughter after the type of apple tree he was planting when she was born; Kate. We heard how he makes the apples into apple juice. One breed of apple tree that is no longer popular gave Farmer Roger the opportunity to grow a new crop, he had to pretend to be a bird and wipe the seeds of a plant on the branches - it took him three years to achieve but now he has a lovely crop of mistletoe to sell at Christmas in the farm shop! We walked through the strawberry fields and picked fresh strawberries to eat, they taste great straight from the plant! Farmer Roger said the strawberries will be ripe for picking on Sunday in time for Father’s Day! Then we walked past the Alpaca field and met the newest addition to the farm, a baby Alpaca born in April. Finally, we walked through the greenhouses and learnt how the hanging baskets are planted.

Mrs Coldwell welcomed us to the Strawberry cafe and we enjoyed looking at the Yurt, then settled down to a delicious snack of strawberry skewers, organic fruit juice, fruit jelly and cookies. Thank you Mrs Coldwell for a delicious snack and for organising such a fantastic morning!

Year 1 have been busy preparing a lovely menu for our cafe at the Summer Fun Day. We have made healthy fruit skewers, a fruit punch and some scones to serve with cream and jam. We have used produce from Peterley Farm. We hope you will join us in our classrooms from 11-1pm, bring some pennies and the children will serve you. The children’s sign-up sheet is in the house by Mrs Applegate’s room.

We are also delighted to announce that £770 was raised at our mini-mudder for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Thank you to everyone who took part and supported the event.