Partner Article

Innovative business sees farm animals hit the road

A FARMER has combined her love of teaching and animals to create a unique educational package where school children are visited by farm animals on a double decker bus.

Gill and Dave Rivers bought South Newton Grange Farm in Darlington three years ago, breeding sheep, pigs and cattle on a small commercial basis specialising in rare breeds. Their aim is to produce pedigree animals of top quality breeding and preserve rare and endangered breeds.

Gill – also a part-time teacher at Houghall College in Durham – had always wanted to set up a farm for children focusing on learning about animals rather than just the fun element of feeding and stroking while at the same time creating a sideline to the day-to-day running of the farm.

She came up with the idea of the Farmyard Flyer, a double decker bus boasting large farm animals on the lower deck and small animals such as rabbits, lizards and chinchillas on the top deck where young children can walk through the bus meeting the animals and learning about them as they go.

Gill was able to achieve her dream with help from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) thanks to an investment of over £9,000 from the Micro Business Fund element of the programme. This fund is managed by the North East England Investment Centre and accessed through Business Link.

Gill said: “Many children have no concept of where food comes from other than a supermarket, so the aim of the Farmyard Flyer is to provide a learning curve for children about food chains and the importance of responsibility when choosing to have a pet. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time so to get the support of the RDPE programme has been critical to achieving my aim.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .