Peterborough farmer welcomes 100,000th visitor for Open Farm Sunday

Farming’s annual open day – Open Farm Sunday – returned yesterday (Sunday 9 June) as farmers in all corners of the country welcomed the public through their gates to learn about food, farming and the countryside.

Now in its 18th year, the nationwide event, managed by Leaf (Linking Environment and Farming), has seen more than  three million people visit farms over the almost two decades since it started.

One farmer, Michael Sly of Park Farm, Thorney, near Peterborough, held his first Open Farm Sunday event in 2006, and has taken part in 17 out of the project’s 18 years.

Over the weekend, he welcomed 12,237 visitors to his 2,000ha farm, including his milestone 100,000th OFS attendee. 

See also: OFS 2024: How to get the public on farm for the first time

“We had something really special on Saturday,” Michael explains, “and that was our 100,000th visitor that we’ve welcomed to the farm since 2006. We’ve finally got there, and we’re now at 108,000!”

© Tim Scrivener

The 100,000th visitor to attend an Open Farm Sunday event at Michael’s farm was little Molly, pictured above with her parents.

In celebration, they were gifted a hamper full of locally produced goods that display the best of food and farming.

Michael estimates that at least half of this year’s visitors had not attended Open Farm Sunday before, with people flocking from surrounding towns and villages within a 30-mile radius – and beyond.  

“It is a community event – it is about the farm and what we do for food and the environment, but it is also about bringing community together,” Michael explains.  

One particularly popular activity on the weekend was the farm safari tour, which Michael runs with five tractors and trailers.

The tour stops off at various parts of the farm, including areas where he grows crops or designates land to environmental stewardship.

“They also stop at various different machines, new and old, which we dot around as talking points,” he explains.

“We took 4,676 visitors on the farm safari tours over the weekend, so it’s a logistics operation in itself!”

Other activities included a ‘pick your own potatoes’ patch to raise money for the East Anglian Air Ambulance, burger and butter making, and a farmers market displaying products from local vendors.

“We have the local school, local Scouts, Rabi, the local food bank – all of these people come and they look forward to it each year because they all get together and get a real buzz out of it,” Michael says.

“What’s really special is that we are the host farm, and we couldn’t do it without the input of local farmers and their families, and volunteers, and also the other allied agricultural trade sending bits of machinery to the event.”