What’s New at Holkham Hall this Summer
Jun 05, 2017
Holkham Estate in north Norfolk has recently entered into a unique venture with East Anglia’s premier agricultural, construction and grounds care equipment retailer, Ben Burgess. The partnership aims to inform visitors to the estate’s latest visitor attraction, the Field to Fork Experience, about the importance of farming and where your food comes from.
Two new, exciting pieces of play equipment have been installed for families to interact with. The latest edition can be found at the children’s woodland adventure play area at Holkham and is a scaled model of a combine harvester. The play equipment was built by Dersingham based company Flights of Fancy as a bespoke piece and has been handmade from sustainably-sourced FSC certified timber and aluminium. Ben Burgess has also generously donated a John Deere tractor cab which the team at Holkham has modified to create a virtual tractor driving experience for visitors to the Field to Fork Experience. It’s a chance for to climb on board and to learn how to steer a tractor along the road and over fields, changing gears and ploughing a furrow
Sue Penlington, Holkham’s Education Manager comments, “The Field to fork Experience is a great way of getting over a very important message; where your food comes from. Having the tractor driving experience is a fantastic way of showing young people how high-tech the agricultural industry is and gives our visitors a real insight into farming practices and managing the countryside. Hopefully it highlights the various opportunities of a future career in agriculture. We hope the combine harvester play equipment will sow this seed at an early age as well as providing more for toddlers to do here.”
Martin Fuller, Director of Ben Burgess said, “As a company, we are very keen to educate the next generation and get them excited about farming and agriculture. This is something we share with Holkham Estate and our partnership allows us to achieve this together. We were therefore very happy to support their introduction of a John Deere combine and the tractor simulator. Both projects are an excellent addition to the unique experiences Holkham offers.”
The Field to Fork theme has also extended to Holkham’s 18th century walled garden where the team of volunteers have taken the story further and have built a new tractor-shaped chicken coop for the flock of chickens housed in the garden. The wheels on the coop were kindly supplied by Ben Burgess.
