Spring at High Mead tends to be a little quieter on the ground, so it gives the staff a chance to organise some extra-curricular trips for the Co-Farmers, their carers and the Farm’s volunteers.

Trips out require precise organisation – akin to that of a military exercise. Not only is transport itself an issue, there are also many other hurdles to overcome to get everyone together and on the road. Nevertheless, March saw two such trips, with a third planned for later this month. The sheer joy of getting off the Farm and doing something different is undeniably evident.

Big grins and excited chatter are the order of the day, peppered by the odd song (and our Co-Farmers have a wide repertoire of very odd songs!). The March trips included a visit to Hardy’s Cottage (Hardy’s birthplace and now a National Trust site four miles from Dorchester) and Max Gate (Thomas Hardy’s former home, designed and built by the writer, where he lived until his death in 1928), followed by a trip to the New Forest Wildlife Park for the Farm’s Animal team.

Our Co-Farmers love to learn, and, above all, love the chance to compare all their hard work with that of others. A nose around a beautifully maintained garden gives them lots to discuss and plan for, and the time spent in the company of friends, letting their hair down and burning off their excess energy, is priceless.

The next outing, a visit to Brownsea Island, with its inevitable added boat trip, is already causing much excitement. It’s not only trips out that have been keeping our Co-Farmers engaged, they have also enjoyed a visit or two from some creepy critters – including a sand lizard, scorpion, possibly the largest spider I have ever seen, and a couple of very impressive amphibians and reptiles.

Luckily, all the VIPs were accounted for and returned home at the end of the day – despite a few requests for Mark to expand the Farm’s stock to include a tarantula or two. The arrival of the minibeasts gave me cause to consider how incredibly well all our animals get along. Chicks in the company of cats, the cats happily sharing space with dogs, dogs alongside rabbits, pigs, goats and alpacas! You would think there would be a need to keep our various species separate but, extraordinarily, they all rub along really well with rarely a cause for concern – even when they are out free-ranging around the farm.  There is the odd occasion when you feel one breed may be slightly judging the other (the goats in particular could do well to practice their poker faces) but, like their two-legged friends, harmony is high up on the agenda at High Mead.