Upgrade for Harpenden farm school

An initiative designed to teach adults and children about how and where their food is produced has revamped its facilities.

The Farmschool, at Thrales End in Harpenden, recently upgraded their school entrance hall, kitchen and washroom floors.

Ian Pigott, owner of The Farmschool, said: “The new school is a fantastic space and has enabled us to teach people about farming practices and the source of our food.” The Pigott family have been farming in the Harpenden area since the 15th Century.

“They grow wheat for biscuits and breadmaking, malting barley for the whisky market, linseed and field beans for animal feeds and oilseed rape for vegetable oil.

As well as operating the Farmschool, the farm also takes part in the innovative Open Farm Sunday Scheme – which Ian founded.

He launched the farming campaign in 2006 in a bid to reconnect the farmer with the consumer and there are now more than 450 farms nationwide which partake in the annual event.

The farmer won the Rural Hero title at the Countryside Alliance Awards in 2009 for the scheme beating celebrity contenders Clarissa Dickson-Wright and Janet Street-Porter to the title.

For more information, including details on available office space and meeting room hire at Thrales End visit www.thralesend.co.uk