Portrush farm raises £1K for Rural Support

The popular event made a welcome return to farms over the weekend of 17-19 June and Chestnutt’s – one of the 18 participating farms – took the opportunity to raise donations, as well as awareness, for Rural Support.

The charity supports the agri-community across the whole of Northern Ireland.

The County Antrim farm, owned by William and Alison Chestnutt, opened their gates to school children on Friday and to the general public on Saturday.

They created a packed schedule of activities to showcase, not only their farm, but other local businesses who had stands at the farm – showing regional food and farming at its best.

On the Saturday over 1,000 visitors were welcomed to the farm, all excited to see the farm in action and try the farm fresh milk and milkshakes from the first vending machine operation in Northern Ireland, set up in July 2020.

They were delighted to support the local businesses who were in attendance as well.

It was a great day and an excellent opportunity to capture the imagination of families and foodies from across Northern Ireland and give a real behind the scenes snapshot of the local farm to fork story.

This week, Hannah Kirkpatrick from Rural Support headed to Chestnutt’s Farm to accept a £1,000 donation from William and Alison, which was raised on the Saturday of their Open Farm Weekend.

The fantastic amount of money will go towards the work carried out by Rural Support, supporting farmers and farming families in Northern Ireland to build more sustainable farm businesses, and create happier and healthier lives for family members.

To contact Rural Support, or for more information about their programmes and services, head to www.ruralsupport.org.uk or Tel. 0800 138 1678.