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Connecting communities through the beauty of nature and the wisdom of farming!

Together, let’s cultivate skills, knowledge, and a love for the rural lifestyle! 🌿✨

01/11/2026

“It always feels like such a privilege that I get to both educate and inspire, sharing our love of farming, animals and everything we do here on the farm! ❤️🐑”

29/10/2026

Come and join us today, we are here until 3pm Nestlé

21/10/2026

At Nature Club today we solved a mystery!! A few weeks ago Jasmine found a tree stump with lots of rodent skulls inside. So we set up trail camera!
Today we watched the recordings and saw a regular visit from a little owl!
(We also saw a barn owl, a heron and a magpie)
So we thought all about our native owls; habitat, diet etc
Then dissected a barn owl pellet. Finding up to 6 mouse skeletons in some of themWhilst we had lunch the little came back to the stump so wet got to see it live. Then we also spotted a peregrine falcon!
What a day for birds!!!

20/10/2026

🐴💪 Hobby Horse Fitness – Fun, Fitness & Pony Power! 💚

What another fantastic afternoon of Hobby Horse Fitness, proving that exercise doesn't always have to feel like exercise!

🐎 Group 1

Our first group enjoyed plenty of free play, running around the yard and choosing their own activities, from jumping challenges and gymkhanas to all sorts of pony-related games!

Then it was time for some real pony jobs! After turning the ponies out into the field, the children got busy mucking out! 💪

Did you know mucking out is actually a brilliant full-body workout? Pushing wheelbarrows, lifting forks, sweeping and bending all help build strength, balance, coordination and stamina. Who needs a gym when you've got stables to muck out?! 😂🐴

🌧️ Group 2

Our second group was a rather soggy affair! But the children were absolutely brilliant, keeping active and having fun despite the rain!

Eventually, even we had to admit defeat to the weather and head into the stables for some pony pampering! 🐴❤️

And did you know that giving a pony a really good groom can be a fantastic arm workout? All that brushing helps strengthen your arms and shoulders, while improving coordination and endurance!

It's wonderful to show the children that physical activity comes in so many different forms. Whether they're running, jumping, mucking out or grooming ponies, they're keeping active, building confidence and developing valuable life skills without even realising they're exercising!

💚 A huge thank you to Sport England for supporting our Hobby Horse Fitness sessions and helping us make physical activity fun, accessible and enjoyable for everyone!

20/10/2026

🐑 A fun-filled morning at Farm Stay &x I. Play! 🐑🌾

This morning was all about getting stick 3into some proper sheep jobs on the farm! 🐑❤️

All our lambs were given their mineral drench and the children had a fantastic time learning why we do this and having a go at using the drenching gun themselves!

Of course, no sheep job would be complete without Rosie! 🐾 The children loved watching her work the sheep and seeing just how important a good sheepdog is on the farm.

And despite the rather miserable weather forecast, we even managed to stay mostly dry! ☀️🌧️

Another wonderful morning of hands-on farming experiences, learning new skills and making memories!

This is what Farm Stay & Play is all about! 💚

14/10/2026

🐴💪 Hobby Horse Fitness – What a Tuesday! 💪🐴

Yesterday was another fantastic day of Hobby Horse Fitness, with both groups working hard, having fun and achieving some brilliant things!

🐎 Our First Session – Gridwork & Pony Time!

Our first group focused on gridwork, learning how to adjust their strides and distances between jumps. We experimented with shortening and lengthening the grids to suit the different heights of the children, encouraging coordination, balance and an understanding of stride patterns.

Then, as a special treat, the children had the opportunity to lead some of our real ponies around the fields! 🥰

They absolutely loved the experience, putting their confidence and handling skills into practice while spending some quality time with our four-legged friends. ❤️

🏇 Our Second Session – We Did It! 5K! 🎉

What an achievement for our second group!

Yesterday, we tackled a 5K hobby horse hack, and every single child did incredibly well!

Five whole kilometres of determination, perseverance and plenty of enthusiasm! 💪

We are SO proud of everyone for reaching this huge milestone. What a fantastic demonstration of just how much their fitness, stamina and confidence have developed!

It's wonderful to see the children achieving things they might never have imagined when they first started.

Hobby Horse Fitness is about so much more than hobby horses. It's about getting active, building friendships, developing confidence and celebrating every achievement, big or small! 💚

💙 A huge thank you to Sport England for funding our Hobby Horse Fitness sessions!

Their support is helping us give children the opportunity to get active, build confidence, develop friendships and discover just how much they can achieve.

We're incredibly grateful for their support in making sessions like these possible!

Well done, everyone! 🐴👏❤️

14/10/2026

🌿🔥 Wild Roots – Campfire Cooking! 🔥🌿

There's something really special about cooking your own food over a fire, especially when you've made it yourself from scratch!

At Wild Roots, we had a wonderful time making our very own campfire bread! 🍞

Everyone had their own ingredients and got stuck into mixing, squishing and kneading their dough before rolling it out and wrapping it around a stick, ready to cook over the fire.

There was plenty of laughter, a little bit of mess and lots of patience as we watched our bread slowly turn golden over the hot embers! 🔥

What might seem like a simple activity offers so many opportunities for learning, from measuring ingredients and following instructions to developing fine motor skills, building confidence and learning about fire safety.

But most importantly, it's about spending time outdoors, trying something new and enjoying those little moments of achievement. 💚

Wild Roots is made possible thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund and National Lottery players. We're incredibly grateful for their support in helping us make experiences like these accessible to our community.

🌿 Thank you to National Lottery players for making this possible!

14/10/2026

🌿 Another Wonderful Wednesday on the Farm! 🐓🔥

We started our morning in the learning paddock, spending time with the chickens and ducks, along with Pickle and Pepper, who treated us to some very entertaining zoomies when we let them out! 🐾❤️

This week was Forest School week, and we revisited some knife skills that we first introduced over a year ago!

For those who were new or hadn't joined us for that session, we learnt how to make wooden mallets. Those who had made mallets previously were ready to take their skills to the next level, having a go at carving their very own wooden mushrooms! 🍄

It was wonderful to see how much confidence and skill some of our young people have developed, while others discovered just what they are capable of!

Of course, it wouldn't be Forest School without fire! 🔥 We built some fantastic fires and enjoyed cooking our lunches over them.

We also explored hand saw and chainsaw safety, learning about the importance of using the correct PPE and understanding how to work safely around different tools and equipment. 🪚

Another Wednesday full of practical skills, independence, confidence, laughter and learning through real experiences.

This is what Home Education Farm Club is all about! 💚

22/09/2026

The smiles Dolly brings is truly heartwarming 🥰 she is one special little pony x

08/09/2026

🐎 🐴 our two hobby horse groups had a very fun day consisting of taking it in turns to lead, hearding cows (that looked very similar to plastic balls 😉) hacks to the brook, lots of jumping and lots and lots of fun doing games!
Its a huge thanks to funding from Sports England that we can offer these sessions for FREE! ❤️

Address

Grange Farm
Derby
DE655GB

Telephone

+447949406626

Website

http://countrysideconnectcic.co.uk/

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