Time on your hands?

Do you want to be outdoors doing something for your community?

Then volunteering at Deen City Farm and Riding School could be for you.

In this difficult time, Deen City Farm and Riding School knows the importance of having somewhere safe, educational, and fun to visit.  Somewhere free, local, and outdoors. Somewhere that takes its urban visitors away from the hassle of city life and gives them a chance to enjoy the peace and splendour of a rural environment.

Due to the challenges of opening safely through the coronavirus, we are looking for volunteers to help manage visitor flow and admission.  We want our visitors to be able to relax at our farm and feel confident that their safety is a priority. To achieve this we have set up a one-way route and ticketing system; ensuring that we manage the number of visitors on the Farm at any point in time and are able to observe the requirements for social distancing. 

Requirements

To help visitors find their way around the Farm, and to deliver a friendly and welcoming experience, Deen City Farm and Riding School is looking for adult Public Engagement and Wayfinding Volunteers, who are:

• Trustworthy and reliable
• Have a good degree of fitness and happy to work outdoors
• Can support us on a 9.30am – 1.00pm or 1.00pm- 4.30pm shift (or both), at least once a fortnight (Tue- Sun).
• Has an interest in animals, farming, or wildlife.
• Has good customer service skills.
• Aged over 18

Contact Us

If you are interesting in becoming a Public Engagement and Wayfinding Volunteer at Deen City Farm and Riding School, or would like more information, please fill out our online form 

Thank you all for your questions about reopening. First, we would like to say another heartfelt thank you for all the support and donations that have kept us going since March, and to say that we’re very grateful that we’re in a position to look forward to welcoming back visitors.

On June 1^st government advice was that farm attractions would not reopen before July 4^th, and the industry was told that date would not be reviewed before June 18^th. So the announcement this week about the possibility of reopening on June 15^th took us, and many other venues like us, by surprise. When we reopen, we will have to limit the number of visitors, use timed admission slots, and put in measures to keep visitors and our staff safe. We will need signs, barriers, enhanced cleaning routines, PPE supplies, and new risk assessments for many activities. We had been working towards a July 4^th opening, and are now accelerating our plans and preparations so we can open earlier. When we are confident that we have a date to reopen safely, we will announce it on our website and on our social media, along with full details of booking arrangements, and an explanation of what to expect when you visit.

Thank you again for all your interest and support, and we ask that you keep an eye out for further announcements.

While the Farm and Riding School are closed, we will still be looking after the animals and working to raise the funds to make sure we can reopen when the crisis passes. A huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been so generous in supporting our Just Giving Appeal, #savedeencityfarm.

We don’t have anyone to answer our Information Desk telephone, but we will keep checking and answering emails. So if you want to get in touch please don’t call but email us at <information @deencityfarm> and we will get back to you. 

We will be running another virtual Pony Club session for 8 to 14 year olds next Saturday, April 11th, at two fifteen, which can be booked online here:

https://booking.bookinghound.com/fe/book?mode=ap&og=4fbf90cd-da3f-471f-b1c0-500c9641eb75&uniqueid=17

You just need a device, a zoom account (which is free) and an internet connection. 

We will also be posting regular updates on Facebook and Twitter and we hope to start doing some live streams soon so you can see how the animals are doing.

Stay safe and healthy, and we hope to see you all soon.

Following a meeting of the Board of Trustees in early March, we reluctantly took the decision to close the Farm to the public with immediate effect.

Our priority is to still be here when life gets back to normal, so we are concentrating our limited resources on keeping our animals happy and healthy.

We are asking anyone who would like to help us survive this crisis to please donate at our Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/savedeencityfarm

It costs us up to £4,000 a month just to look after all our animals, so we really do need your help if we’re going to get through this. 

We have had to reduce our staffing, so please bear with us and use email rather than telephone to get in contact if possible.

We will be posting more news and information when we have it, so please check back regularly. Look after yourselves and each other. 

COVID-19: INFORMATION FOR VISITORS

The safety and wellbeing of our visitors andstaff is our priority and we will take all necessary precautions to ensure their continued welfare. As with many businesses, we are actively monitoring the situation with regards to the outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus and are following the guidelines of Public Health England.  The advice from the health authorities has not changed, so the Farm and Riding School are operating as normal and standard terms and conditions on bookings continue to apply.

If you are planning on visiting the Farm from an area that has been directly affected by the coronavirus AND if you are showing symptoms similar to those associated with the virus (for example:  fever, cough, breathlessness), we please politely ask that you do not visit and instead call NHS 111 for further advice and instruction. During your visit, we wish to reassure you that we are taking all possible steps to minimise the risk of contagion, including the implementation of an enhanced cleaning regime throughout the site.  We will take all necessary precautions to protect the health of our visitors and staff. We ask all our guests to observe high standards of personal hygiene whilst visiting the Farm and Riding School. There are simple precautions everyone can take to help prevent the spread of the virus, including:

• Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
• Putting used tissues in the bin immediately
• Using the facilities provided on the Farm to wash your hands with soap and hot water regularly
• Trying to avoid close contact with people who are unwell
• Avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean.

If you do feel unwell during your visit, please contact a member of staff immediately – maintaining a safe distance of two metres where possible.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.  

The builders are on site this week laying a new surface for our riding arena. There will be trucks and materials moving around so please take extra care, and please keep an especially close eye on children. The playground, cafe and Farm are all open as usual.

Anyone walking to the Farm from Morden Hall Park may have seen our cows, Poppy, Daisy and Phoenix, enjoying the new field that we built over the summer with the help of Goldman Sachs and their Community Teamworks programme, which provided funds and volunteers without which we couldn’t have got the clearing and fencing done, and thanks also to the National Trust for letting us use the land. 

The cows are having a ball exploring and chomping their way around, and access to a new, dry area means we can rest our fields and give the grass a chance to recover.  We hope walkers and commuters along the Wandle Trail will enjoy seeing them mooch about.

Visitors can still see the cows by walking along the path from the Farm entrance gate that runs alongside the Wandle towards Morden Hall Park. The new field is at the end of the Farm, before the Tramline. 

We are very sorry to say that our Riding School will not be able to offer lessons or pony rides this coming weekend, September 28th/29th. We are offering a horse Meet and Greet instead, and all other activities are unaffected, including our Harvest Festival event on Saturday afternoon. We’re hoping to be back to normal as of Tuesday 1st October.