Described as a one-of-a-kind inner city farm, LOVE Gorgie provides a unique escape from the hustle and bustle of Capital life in the heart of Edinburgh.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary next month, the farm, known previously as Gorgie City Farm, was rescued by LOVE Learning Scotland and has been transformed into a destination of fun and education for Capital kids, who can get to meet, feed and cuddle dozens of cute animals.
Still an operating farm, staff at LOVE Gorgie also work to give back to the community and have delivered over 5,000 parcels from the on-site foodbank, set up at the start of the covid lockdown.
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To find out more about life on the farm and what makes it so different, we caught up with LOVE Gorgie manager Dolina Gorman.
She said: "We’re a free entry farm, one of the few places that have remain free entry. We do have a donation bucket at the gates and most of our funding comes from people giving donations each day.
"It’s an operating farm as well, we have members of staff who work solely with the animals.
"It’s just really unusual and unique to have a city farm. We’re based right next to the railway line in the middle of Gorgie. People who don’t know we’re there are always surprised to stumble across it."
With the farm having first been established in 1982, LOVE Learning Scotland stepped in to save it just before lockdown hit at the beginning of 2020, after the site had fallen into liquidation.
As well as caring for dozens of different types of animals, LOVE Gorgie also has a climate change garden, nature garden, playpark, cafe and the aforementioned foodbank, while hosting a number of 'animal experiences' to keep Edinburgh kids both entertained and educated.
Dolina explained: "LOVE Learning is about providing eduction to both adults and children who are isolated from education, maybe not in mainstream education or perhaps they’ve got learning disabilities or mental health problems. We have an education service and a care service and now we have the farm.
"We have a food bank, which we opened in March 2020 when we closed due to covid. We wondered what we could do while we’re closed, so we opened the food bank then and we’re keeping it as a permanent fixture now. We’ve delivered 5,000 parcels to date.
"Whatever vegetables aren’t suitable for the public, we feed them to the animals.
"We’ve got our composting that we’re going to be bagging and selling back to the public, but that also goes back onto the garden space where we grow our own food and veg which then goes back into the food bank.
"The chickens are laying a lot of eggs at the moment, so we sell fresh eggs daily as well."
"We have a small playpark in the area. We also have a cafe where you can get teas, coffees and food, with a seating area. It’s not run by the farm, but it’s a social enterprise.
"It’s all free-entry and anyone can come along."
And in terms of the animals, there's far more to meet and greet at LOVE Gorgie than you might expect from your average Scottish farm.
When asked what types of animals they care for, Dolina said: "We have around 200 animals - a lot of them are chickens!
"We’ve got reptiles of various descriptions including snakes and lizards.
"We have larger animals such as alpacas where we do alpaca trekking. Our more unusual large animals are our black snow sheep, which come from New Zealand originally, and our goats. We’ll be introducing new animals to the farm soon too.
"We have various birds and budgies as well and small, fluffy animals including guinea pigs, rabbits and ferrets as well."
The chance to meet, feed and even cuddle some of the animals has obviously proven a huge hit for kids - and parents - offering a day out with a difference in the middle of the city.
Dolina continued: "We do cuddle corner experiences with the smaller animals or the snakes and the reptiles as well as the alpaca trekking.
"Our Mini Farmers event runs Monday to Friday, 10 til 12 for 7-12 year olds and we have various programmes in place from working the gardens to creating bird feeders, feeding the animals or grooming the animals, to walking alpacas.
"So we get children quite involved in outdoor education, but it’s also fun!
"We’re getting much busier now with the weather improving and with the covid restrictions lifting. We have up to 1,000 visitors a day in high season. We do get a lot of tourists as well as locals coming in."
And when asked to sum up what people can find at LOVE Gorgie, Dolina feels the farm can be an inner city haven for families who have busy lives living in the Capital.
She said: "The farm is just really relaxing and it really does feel like you are not in the city when you are in the city.
"It’s a little bit of peace and harmony and green space in a very busy city environment."
This Spring, LOVE Gorgie Farm will be hosting a Firewalk event on May 28 as a special thanks to the community, grant providers fareshare and local supermarkets for supporting the farm and foodbank.
If you would like to become a business sponsor please visit our website or contact dolina@L-O-V-E.org.uk
To find out more about LOVE Gorgie, you can visit their website here.
