A Countryside Community

Getting Hands On at Hackney City Farm

Hackney City Farm is one of my favourite spots to while away a day. A short walk from Bethnal Green tube on the Hackney Road, the farm is a refreshing break from the urban eateries and bustling market streets that surround it.

It's the only place I have ever encountered a chicken with blue cheeks and there are plenty of opportunities to get up close and pet the animals. Tucked away in the stable yard are rabbits, guinea-pigs and a host of feathered critters who patter around the patio, scouring the floor for food and pecking at your feet. The back fields are home to your traditional farmyard characters - goats, sheep, pigs and a friendly donkey named Larry.

Like its countryside counterparts, Hackney City Farm has a vegetable garden – a source for some of the delicious seasonal dishes on the cafe menu. The farm nurtures its community spirit with a volunteer program that invites you, the visitor, to help out with the weeding, watering and planting – a nice opportunity for those who miss having a garden to satisfy their green fingers.

Aside from offering a pleasant sense of countryside in the heart of the city, the farm also hosts various arts and crafts classes - a chance for novices like myself to make misshapen snake vases and incidental clay flower pots for a bargain price. I would recommend the classes for beginners and experts alike. Being relatively unknown, the groups are small so there’s plenty of opportunities to try the different tools and machines. Classes run from 7pm till 9pm, and when I last visited the laid back staff were more than happy to let us stick around to finish our pots.

This lovely thing to do in London was kindly shared by Kylie Abplanalp - lover of plants and parks. Kylie is a hunt builder at HiddenCity - a trails-by-text company who specialise in showing you the secret sides of the city. HiddenCity have just launched the ‘Festive Family Quest’ – a Christmassy challenge for friends and families alike.

Photo courtesy of Wirewiping on Flickr

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