A VOYAGE OF food discovery

We talk to Charlotte Repton of the Country Trust, a charity dedicated to teaching children about food and how it is grown

- Charlotte Repton

The Country Trust's central mission is to connect children from areas of disadvantage to the real working countryside, bringing food, farming and environmental experiences to those who are least able to access it. The beginnings were simple. The charity started taking groups of children from urban areas to farms for day visits in 1978 and this remains the core of what it delivers today, with a team of Farm Discovery co-ordinators spread across the country offering funded visits to eligible schools. The Country Trust has expanded, specialised and adapted over its 45 years, offering residential experiences and even developing a 'farm in a box' programme to bring the farm into the classroom when visits weren't possible during the pandemic.

This year the trust is celebrating 10 years of another of its programmes. Food Discovery is an in-depth programme which works with a whole school year group to build upon the farm visit with a series of sessions in school which includes cooking, gardening, running a farmers' market and bringing everything together to prepare and share a celebratory harvest feast using their home-grown produce.

Charlotte Repton, Food Discovery programme manager, tells us more about the impact the programme makes.

What will the children experience by taking part in Food Discovery?