Santa’s Grotto

Tickets now available!

Come and meet Santa Claus and tell him what you want for Christmas before his friendly elf guides you to where he keeps his presents!

Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th December

Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th December

Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th December

Tuesday 21st to Friday 24th December

10am to 4pm, booking is highly recommended

A farm visit is included so no need to book one.

£6 per child, gift included.

Book your tickets now! 

Oscar’s Playground Update

Thank you so much for your kind donations to get the playground open.

The work is now complete and the playground has reopened with a brand new surface and new equipment to play on.

Oscars playground was built in memory of Oscar Ashton, a little boy from Wimbledon who passed away in 2012 from an undiagnosed heart defect. Oscar was a frequent visitor to the farm with his family, who helped to raise £10,000 to transform an underused part of the farm into a fun and educational area for children to enjoy.

We are open from 10am-4:30, last admission is at 4pm, the playground will be open during these times. 

We are recruiting!

Current Vacancies

Job Title: Education Officer

Salary: £9027 per annum for 16 hours a week. Fixed term contract with the option to extend. 

Closing Date: Midnight 30th May 2021

We are excited to be able to recruit a new Education Offer to help the farm deliver upon its educational aims. This role has been made possible through a grant from the Wimbledon Foundation. Initially this post will be for two days a week for a six month period, we sincerely hope that this can be extended but this is dependant on further funding.

The new Education Officer will maintain and develop our links with local schools, colleges and community groups; design and coordinate a programme of school visits, tours, workshops and events that effectively use the Farm’s resources to fulfil its educational mission; design and create new information panels round the farm and create a new family trail for visitors to use round the farm. 

Download Job Description Here

Apply: please email your CV and covering letter detailing how you meet the requirements of the role to Emma King, General Manager at manager@deencityfarm.co.uk. 


Job Title: Visitor Experience Manager

Salary: £22-24k per annum (dependant on experience)

Closing Date: Midnight Sunday 13th June 2021

We are looking for an enthusiastic, hardworking and passionate Visitor Experience Manager with excellent customer service skills. The ideal candidate will know how to inspire and motivate a team of staff and volunteers as well as experience of generating income through a variety of channels including retail, events and donations.

 Download Job Description Here

Apply: please email your CV and covering letter detailing how you meet the requirements of the role to Emma King, General Manager at manager@deencityfarm.co.uk.

Help our playground re-open!

We are thrilled that the farm is open again, it has been a tough year and without your support we would not have been in a position to reopen, we cannot thank you enough!

You may have noticed during your recent visits that we have yet to open our playground, we know that the area is extremely popular with families visiting the farm and we would love to be able to open it as soon as we can!

Unfortunately, long periods of lockdown and staff furlough have left the playground overgrown and the ground surface uneven, with some of the play equipment beginning to rot. We have been able to fund some replacement equipment, but replacing the ground surface is well beyond our means.

To re-open the playground we dearly need your support to finance a new playing surface. We’d like your help to raise £15K to fund a long lasting wet pour solution – providing a very safe ground for children to play on as it absorbs impact.

Oscar’s playground was built in memory of Oscar Aston, a little boy from Wimbledon who passed away in 2012 from an undiagnosed heart defect. Oscar was a frequent visitor to the farm with his family, who helped to raise £10,000 to transform an underused part of the farm into a fun and educational area for children to enjoy.

Complete with farm-themed play equipment, Oscar’s playground is a vital facility for the local community and we would love to be able to open it up again as soon as possible.

Please donate today to help us reach our goal and re-open our playground in time for summer!

City Farm Day 2021

On Thursday 25th March we will be taking part in the first ever City Farm Day alongside other City Farms across the UK.

There are more than 50 City Farms across the UK – connecting people in cities with food and farming: and supporting members of the local community via volunteering opportunities. City Farm Day is all about celebrating the important role that these special places have in communities across the UK since the first one opened back in 1972.

We will be sharing some stories and videos from our staff and volunteers and would love to here all about your experiences at Deen City Farm over the years!

Share your posts using #CityFarmDay!

For more information about City Farm Day please visit the Social Farms and Gardens website.

Bring Cows back to Deen City Farm

Can you help?

Early last year our beloved cows retired from Farm life, they are sorely missed but are enjoying their new home. 

This year we are hoping to bring cows back by rehoming two young Shetland Cows, half sisters, Brie and Meg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shetland cows are rare breeds and have been classified as a minority by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. This year there has been a 5% decrease in registered breeding females in the UK. In bringing these beautiful young ladies to the farm we hope to help the breed thrive! 

Please share or donate if you can: Fundraiser by Maria Day : Fundraising for cows (gofundme.com)

Thank you so much for your support. 

Christmas Tree Shop

We are excited to be able to offer Christmas Trees this year. If you haven’t already bought yours why not help support a local charity and purchase your tree from Deen City Farm! 

All trees are 6ft Nordmann Firs

£45 each

Pre-Order here:

Collection is available from Thursday 3rd December between 10:00 and 16:00. However if you need to collect your tree outside these hours it may be possible, call 02085435858 to double check. 

Find out how else you can help support Deen City Farm here. 

Public Engagement & Wayfinding Volunteers

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 

Update – Reopening

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 1st government advice was that farm attractions would not reopen before July 4th, and the industry was told that date would not be reviewed before June 18th. So the announcement this week about the possibility of reopening on June 15th 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 4th 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.

We’re hiring – General Manager

Deen City Farm and Riding School

General Manager

Salary: c£35,000 plus pension

Location: Merton, SW19

Hours: Full time 40 hours per week with options for flexible working.  Occasional weekend and evening working

Deen City Farm and Riding School is a successful community resource comprising a city farm, riding school, café and garden project based in the London Borough of Merton. 

Our mission is to be an oasis providing urban communities with the opportunity to connect with animals and nature.  

Our founding charitable objectives include promoting education in agriculture, horticulture, home-crafts, country life and animal care and providing facilities for members of our local communities, in particular those considered the most vulnerable.   

We seek a new General Manager to work closely with the board and management team to develop and deliver innovative business, fundraising and communication/publicity strategies and work to ensure the long-term sustainability of the farm.

A positive attitude, ability to identify imaginative and productive ways of utilising the farm’s many assets, and the drive to deliver on those plans will be essential as the farm moves through one of its most challenging and potentially exciting periods in its history. 

We are looking for an inspiring and inclusive leader with brilliant communication and relationship building skills and the ability to work with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. It is likely you have worked for a charity and must have a real interest in community, youth and environmental issues.

Financially literate you must have a commercial mindset and ability to work with a dedicated board of trustees in the development of new ideas for the farm.

To Apply please send a CV and Cover letter to: chair@deencityfarm.co.uk

The successful appointee will be subject to a DBS check. 

Closing date for application: 31st May 2020

Click here for application pack