Organic farm and climate group team up to display woodland mural for farm visitors

Visitors exploring farm trails at Market Drayton’s Fordhall Organic Farm will be able to admire a newly installed mural created by volunteers, a local climate group, and community members who picked up a paint brush at the recent Arts Festival.

The mural, painted on wooden panels constructed by members of a youth project at the farm, offers a warning about climate change as the image shifts from a bright woodland scene buzzing with life in 2023 to a bleak picture of a lifeless wood in 2050.

‘We felt the beautiful setting of the walks at Fordhall Organic Farm would be an ideal place to remind ourselves of how we love the natural world, and our responsibility to care for it,’ said Rowan Cookson, chair of Market Drayton Climate Action.  ‘Fordhall brings many people out into the land to enjoy being in the countryside and to find out about many ways of protecting the environment.  So we were really pleased to work as partners on the mural which has been placed in a wooded area on a trail for visitors to see.’

Charlotte Hollins, General Manager at Fordhall said, ‘We’re excited to be hosting this special piece of artwork within our woods. We are a community owned farm and access to our trails is free so anyone can come along and see the art whilst enjoying a walk in nature.

Within our climate work, we are planting over 2500 trees on site this winter as Living barns for our livestock, to increase our site biodiversity and to absorb more carbon into our soils. As an organisation based on the land, we are acutely aware of the impacts we as humans have on the planet. We are continually working to limit our impact onsite, as well as improve our biodiversity: building the planets resilience to climate change by increasing the natural diversity in our landscapes. nature needs us and we need nature’.

The two local organisations will join together later this month when Fordhall’s Charlotte Hollins will take part in a Sustainable Farming Panel, organised by Market Drayton Climate Action.  ‘We expect a lively and informative evening with three farmers explaining the methods they use and answering questions,’ said Ms Cookson.  ‘The event is free and open to anyone interested in farming.  We’re hosting it along with Ashley Young Farmers, at 7.30 pm 27 February in the Mencap Building, Market Drayton.’

Fordhall Farm is open to visitors Tuesday to Sunday, with regular volunteer days every Friday and volunteer weekends through the year. If you’d like to get involved, please visit: www.fordhallfarm.com/get-involved/volunteer/

For more information about Market Drayton Climate Action, please visit: mdclimateaction.wordpress.com

Rowan Cookson (Chair, Market Drayton Climate Action) & Nicola Syred, (FCLI Community and Partnerships Lead)

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