Laurel View Farm is highlighting ‘just what we have on our doorstep’

Linda and Robert Davis are looking forward to welcoming visitors back to Laurel View Farm, Templepatrick, where they will shine the spotlight on social farming and the benefits it brings to both communities and farmers.

Social farming is the use of agriculture to promote therapy, rehabilitation, social inclusion, and education in rural areas.

At their farm, Linda and Robert work with a variety of groups, which includes Muckamore Abbey in Antrim.

Covid-19 may have halted the visits to the farm, but the couple soon found a way to continue providing the group with the interaction with animals they so enjoyed.

“We have been working with Muckamore for a few years now,” Linda explained.

“Pre-Covid they used to come out to us and the group would have been helping out with grooming and brushing and all sorts of farming activities.

“When the pandemic hit, visits were initially halted and then there was an issue with getting transport.

“At that point Robert suggested he could start bringing the animals to the hospital.

“He started doing it one day a week but it quickly turned into two and the reaction has been fantastic.

“He’ll pack up the trailer or the car with a pony, or a calf, or lamb or duckling or whatever is about – cat, dogs, they’ve all been!

“In some ways it’s been a positive that’s come out of the pandemic because originally there were only a small number of participants who could come out to the farm, but Robert is now able to work his way around different wards and see far more people.”

Linda continued: “The patients look forward to Robert coming in each week.

“One of the loveliest moments was with a man who is deaf and blind and struggles to express himself.

“He had the cat on his knee during one visit and he just sat there with the biggest smile on his face – the staff couldn’t believe it.”

For Linda and Robert social farming, and the social aspect to events like BOIOFW, are integral to the other work they do on the farm.

“It’s all linked,” she explained.

“At the likes of BOIOFW, or with social farming, we’ll get people visiting who have maybe never been in the countryside before or seen these animals in real life.

“It helps with our message about supporting local producers and buying locally because it really brings it all home and highlights just what we have on our doorsteps,” Linda concluded.

Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend (BOIOFW) is set to return to Northern Ireland with an in-person format for the first time since 2019.

The annual event, which opens to schools on Friday 17 June and the public on 18 - 19 June, highlights the importance of the agriculture and farming industries and the benefits they bring.

Laurel View Farm will be open during Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend on Friday 17 June (Schools only) Saturday 18 June 12.30pm to 4.30pm and Sunday 12.30pm to 4.30pm.

More on Open Farm Weekend: Open Farm Weekend 2022 - Here are this year’s dates and the farms taking part | Bank of Ireland Open Farm weekend celebrates with new sponsor