This week Nigel Logan from Hillstown Farm, Ahogill tells us about his experience of Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend.
“We’ve taken part in Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend for the last three years and we’ve always had a fantastic turnout and great response! Initially we didn’t know quite what to expect and were a little nervous about taking part, but in the first year we had almost 800 people through the gates, which was fantastic and the numbers have only grown since then.
“It’s important to keep it focused. We have sheep-shearing demonstrations, a petting zoo, hog roasts and lots of chances to sample our products – which we sell through our farm shop. We at least doubled, possibly even tripled our normal sales for the weekend so taking part in the initiative definitely made sound business sense. Some of our regular customers came along to learn more about how the animals were reared and they have become even more loyal after the weekend. But we were encouraged to see lots of new faces around the farm and in the shop over the weekend and a large number of these have returned again and again.
“We also worked with a few local primary schools to organise school trips to the farm and were able to give the children an introduction to the farming way of life and the source of their food. It was genuinely encouraging to see the pupils interacting with the animals and feedback from teachers was positive as it fitted in perfectly with their lessons on food and farming.
