THE North Waterhayne Farm and Daisy’s Dairy milk vendor hosted their first open farm Sunday event earlier this month.

As visitors arrived at the event held on June 9, they walked alongside the dairy herd busy grazing, and then enjoyed various activities around the farm yard, such as sheep shearing, pigs, hands-on games, wheat milling, and sunflower seeds to plant.

Shortly before 11am the first visitors started to arrive, and it is estimated that during the event 1,000 people came to visit a working farm and find out more about food production.

A cheese-tasting station with samples of the different types of Cathedral City had been kindly provided by the farm’s milk buyer, Saputo Dairy UK from Davidstow, Cornwall.

A photo taken during the open farm eventA photo taken during the open farm event (Image: Contributed)

Out in one of the fields was a display of old and new farm machinery supported by local contractors Barnes Contracting and dealership CJ Cox.

There were also interactive talks and demonstrations from Blackdown Farm Vets, AHDB Dairy, Pearce Seeds, Women in Dairy, and Kingshay Dairy Consultants.

After enjoying refreshments provided by Yarcombe and District YFC, Upottery Primary School PTFA, and milkshakes from Daisy’s Dairy, there was a hay-making demonstration which drew a huge crowd of onlookers and then it was time to see the cows walking in for afternoon milking.

Lorna Burdge, from the farm, said: “We are completely overwhelmed by how successful the event has been.

“The number of visitors exceeded our expectations and we’ve received such positive feedback from visitors, both during the event and afterwards by text and email.”

The next event hosted by Daisy’s Dairy milk-vending machine is a duck race on Sunday, June 30 in aid of Stockland Primary Academy, Stockland and Yarcombe Preschool, and the Yarcombe Children’s Fund.