The Beacon Farms Network, launched by the Sustainable Food Trust in 2024, brings together sustainable and regenerative farms acting as educational platforms to inform and inspire young people and adults about the story behind their food.
Our aim is to collaborate with and empower farmers to harness the power of “seeing is believing” experiences to build a body of informed public opinion.
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“Our aim is for the Beacon Farms Network to be built on trust, collaboration and transparency. In time, we hope to stimulate a larger movement enabling hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of people to have a direct experience of food and farming, influencing them for the rest of their lives.”
Patrick HoldenSFT, CEO
Overview
We have received an amazingly positive response to the launch of the Beacon Farms Network, with a growing number of farms having signed up from across the UK and Ireland. Our entry criteria for participating farms is that they will combine the following three features:
– Practising or moving towards biologically-based, sustainable farming
– An interest in informing and inspiring visitors about the story behind their food
– Facilities for hosting visits and events
As part of the Network, the Sustainable Food Trust is also working with The Harmony Project, an educational initiative which supports farms in hosting school visits for young people aged between 5 and 14 years old. Through this partnership, we will develop and share a range of curriculum-linked resources and templates to help participating farms communicate their stories, whilst also supporting them to connect with local schools.
If you are interested in finding out more or signing up to be part of the Network, please get in touch via info@sustainablefoodtrust.org.
Farm profiles
Here are just some of our participating farms:
Home Farm, Sophie and Tom Gregory
Home Farm on the Sadborow Estate is an organic dairy farm of around 1,000 acres. The farm produces high quality, nutritious milk from a herd of 400 Jersey, Friesian and Shorthorn Cows. The farm works closely with the community and regularly hosts school trips and farming discussion groups.
Sophie met our CEO, Patrick Holden, for the latest series of the SFT Podcast. With a passion for connecting more people with the origins of their food, Sophie explained how she first got into farming, her plans for her Nuffield scholarship on the future of organic, and why she feels education on food and farming is so essential.
Shimpling Park, John and Alice Pawsey
As well as farming 650 hectares of arable land and 1,000 New Zealand Romney breeding ewes, Shimpling Park also farms an additional 980 hectares of land for neighbouring farmers, all of which are managed organically. Diversifications on the farm include an extensive environmental scheme to support nature-friendly farming and various renewable energy projects, and the farm regularly hosts school visits and events.
John and Alice appeared on the SFT podcast in 2024, where they discussed their journey from conventional to organic agriculture, their decision to re-integrate livestock into their mainly arable system and the role of farms as educational centres to help connect people with the story behind their food.
Little Rollright Farm
Located in Oxfordshire, Little Rollright is a 750-acre mixed farm rooted in regenerative principles. The farm focuses on working in harmony with nature, restoring biodiversity, improving soil health and protecting the land for future generations. Alongside its farming activities, Little Rollright has launched an educational programme in partnership with The Harmony Project, welcoming school groups to explore the deep connections between farming, food, health and the environment. In the first summer, they hosted over 500 children on the farm.
Honeydale Farm, Ian Wilkinson
FarmED is a centre for farming and food education, based at Honeydale Farm, a diverse, 107-acre mixed farm in the Cotswolds, operating as a space for education and connection around sustainable farming and food systems.
Whilst attending the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) in 2024, Ian sat down with Patrick Holden to record an episode of the SFT Podcast.
During the episode, Patrick and Ian discussed the history behind events like the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) and ORFC, recalling earlier iterations of both and how each has developed over time. Ian also delved into the origins of organic seed, the evolution of Cotswold Seeds and the importance of demonstration farms as beacons for knowledge-sharing and on-farm education.
Hill Top Farm, Neil Heseltine and Leigh Weston
Nestled in the Yorkshire Dales, Hill Top Farm is a living classroom where students can explore sustainable farming in action. Spanning 1,500 acres, the farm balances cattle grazing with environmental stewardship, offering a sanctuary for ground-nesting birds like curlews and birds of prey such as kestrels and barn owls. School visits to the farm provide a unique opportunity to learn about biodiversity, sustainable land management, and the interconnectedness of farming and nature.
Bore Place is a 500-acre organic estate in Kent comprising of an education centre, organic dairy farm, market garden and venue. It is a natural playground and rich learning environment for local children and young people to connect with nature and food, whilst gaining the wellbeing benefits of being outdoors.
Jenny and Mark Lee farm at Torpenhow, located on the northern edge of the Lake District in Cumbria, where they hand make award-winning cheese using fresh organic milk from their pasture fed cows. In recent years they have planted native hedgerows between the paddocks to provide shelter and create wildlife corridors. Now, as part of their involvement in the Beacon Farms Network, Jenny and Mark have started hosting primary school visits to the farm, supported by bespoke curriculum-linked resources.
To support Beacon Farms school visits we have developed and shared a range of curriculum-linked resources and templates to help participating farms communicate their stories, whilst also supporting them to connect with local schools. This film showcases a range of school visits to Beacon Farms in 2025.
