Farming community raises spirits during global pandemic

Adam Henson, who runs Cotswald Farm Park, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, says #ThankYouNHS by donating unused Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) equipment to their local medical centre.

#ThankYouNHS - we are currently closed but have plenty of PPE on site @CotswoldFarmPrk - the team gathered it together today and dropped it off at #WinchcombeMedicalCentre for their staff to use #goodnews #bekind 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/kAOYpPYPzd

— Cotswold Farm Park (@CotswoldFar

#ThankYouNHS - we are currently closed but have plenty of PPE on site @CotswoldFarmPrk - the team gathered it together today and dropped it off at #WinchcombeMedicalCentre for their staff to use #goodnews #bekind \uD83D\uDC4F\uD83C\uDFFE \uD83D\uDC4F\uD83C\uDFFE \uD83D\uDC4F\uD83C\uDFFE pic.twitter.com/kAOYpPYPzd

— Cotswold Farm Park (@CotswoldFarmPrk) March 26, 2020

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British Food Box is a local delivery service, supplying farm shops, pubs and restaurants with quality, local produce.

But Hannah Kinston and John Davies, founders of the company, have had to change their business overnight.

As food outlets shut their doors, they lost much of their custom overnight and now they are providing a delivery service to those in need, all within a 10-mile radius of John's family farm in Snarestone, Leicestershire.

“The phones haven’t stopped since we started offering a home delivery service for people who are unable to get out to a supermarket to buy food,” says 22-year-old Hannah.

“A number of our customers are elderly or vulnerable and were becoming really worried about buying food, given how hard it is to secure an online supermarket delivery. It’s nice to be able to support them and take some of that stress away.”

Emily and Guy French from Foxes Farm produce, Colchester, Essex are keen to inspire the next generation.

After schools closed their doors, the husband and wife team have created online educational farming lessons on YouTube, all set on their arable farm.

Emily says: "We are not media experts, just farmers. We really wanted to help all the families and children in lockdown due to the coronavirus crisis, so we are putting together weekly educational videos of activities on our farm, using the hashtag #learnonthefarm. We thought this would provide a [different] perspective on education and learning to families about our own experiences and adventures on the ground during this crisis.

"We run a variety of farm diversifications. We grow thousands of pumpkins which we supply across the UK; we run two successful pumpkin patches in Essex - one in Colchester and one in Basildon where members of the public have a fun day out picking their pumpkins directly from the field; we run Farm Mud Runs which are 1.5km multi lap mud runs through our fields and we are also members of the British Christmas Tree Association and grow and retail Christmas Trees.

"It's very varied and hopefully interesting to others."

The Robert's family have seen an increasing number of walkers on their land in the Lammermuir Hills hills, southern Scotland. Farming 900 ewes, they placed this sign on their road end to encourage people to stay at home and keep their families and communities safe.

Peacock Farms, in Muston, North Yorkshire have live chick updates for those children at home wanting to tune in.

Live chick cams and daily updates for their school mates pic.twitter.com/8PpVAqNhDy

— Peacock Farm (@FarmPeacock)

Live chick cams and daily updates for their school mates pic.twitter.com/8PpVAqNhDy

— Peacock Farm (@FarmPeacock) March 30, 2020

Children across the country are painting rainbows to show their support and encourage people to stay safe.

Catrin Batt, aged 5, from Garth Farm, Abergavenny is trying to raise spirits on the family's 85-acre farm, where, says her mum, Claire, homeschooling currently means lambing their 75 ewes.

Claire says: "Catrin wanted to make a big sign to go at the bottom of her lane for people to see to support the NHS."

Peter Mortimer has taken the time to phone retired show exhibitors to make sure they are keeping well in times of isolation.

My husband spent Saturday, after he finished all his pig work, phoning fellow long retired show exhibitors. He has to work caring for his beloved pigs but is on the list for people most in danger.

— Gill Mortimer (@GillMortimer)

My husband spent Saturday, after he finished all his pig work, phoning fellow long retired show exhibitors. He has to work caring for his beloved pigs but is on the list for people most in danger.

— Gill Mortimer (@GillMortimer) March 30, 2020