A popular farm loved by families that has been open for nearly 40 years continues to attract thousands every year.
Acorn Farm in Kirkby began in 1987 on four hectares of derelict land, which had once been a tip for builders’ rubble. Beginning with a rabbit and two gerbils, over the years it has become home to a wide range of farm animals including pigs, sheep, cows, goats, horses and chicken and one of Merseyside’s most popular visitor attractions.
It was the brain child of a local college lecturer who taught a group of students with disabilities and recognised that students would benefit much more from practical hands on outdoor based education. In the early days, many were sceptical that the land could be transformed, but with a strong team or employees and volunteers behind them, Acorn Farm is still thriving.
Tracy Trumble, from St Helens, has worked at Acorn Farm for 16 years and in January became CEO after long-term farm manager Fiona Smith retired. Tracy, 53, told the ECHO: "It was a rubble yard at first. A lecturer started to teach people with disabilities how to look after animals and that's how it grew.
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"Fiona came along in around 1987 as a farm manager and she built the farm to what it is today to be honest. From a rubble yard we got a building, then we extended the building and now we’re looking to fundraise for a new building."
Once the first farm animal was introduced, local people, many of whom were unemployed, began visiting with their children to see the animals, with a number of them later offering their time as volunteers. Many have never lost touch and now come up and visit with their grandchildren, who get a completely different experience compared to the early days at Acorn Farm.
Now open seven days a week, Acorn Farm has a vast array of farm animals - as well as the likes of alpacas and meerkats -and two play areas, a café and more. If petting the animals isn't enough, during weekends and school holidays, you can pop on a helmet and take a horse ride and the farm also runs small animal petting sessions.
Tracy said the team are looking to expand and get more animals as well as fundraise for a new building as they continue to grow and grow. She said: "It’s really really hard work. We work with people with disabilities and they help us to run the farm and we couldn't do it without them.
"They work with the animals, horticulture, landscaping, maintenance. Seeing the families come back, we know people by name. They come in, we have a chat, we take them around - it’s just amazing. It’s a lovely little farm, iI love it.
"We have grown in the 15 years since I've been here, I didn't expect it to be like this, I didn't expect to have a new building on the horizon. It's just growing and growing every day."
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Every day, families can visit and buy a bag of feed for 50p so the little ones can feed the animals themselves. Tracy said children's favourites are the "naughty goats" ands chickens and the site also boasts play areas accessible to all and picnic benches for those wanting to stay for the day.
The team have come a long way since its start in the 1980s and Acorn Farm is now known for offering an affordable family day out, attracting visitors from wider Merseyside. Tracey said: "We keep it low price so everybody can attend.
"We try not to put our prices up year on year because we know people cant afford it so we do try to keep our prices as low as possible so people can keep coming back. We had our busiest year last year, we had over 94,000 visitors in the year.
"We usually average around 80,000 but last year was the busiest ever and it was nice for it to be Fiona's last year. Every month we’re looking at our admission tickets and every month seems to be we've beat last month or we’ve beat this same month was last year."
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Acorn Farm are most proud of the fact they've never lost sight of their commitment to be a project primarily for the local community. and that people with disabilities are still fully involved in all aspects of running the farm.
Tracy said: " I love the feel and the ethos of it and working with all the colleagues and volunteers, the animals. I just love the place."
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