Shallowford Farm

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Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Shallowford Farm, Farm, Dartmoor National Park, Widecombe.

Shallowford Farm is a charity situated in Dartmoor National Park, offering children & young people the opportunity to connect with nature & rural life through immersive educational & life affirming experiences. Shallowford Farm is a unique and inspiring place set in the heart of Dartmoor where people from inner cities can come and be immersed in a whole new way of life on the farm, learn more about themselves, others and the environment around them.

14/06/2026

It's been a busy few weeks here at Shallowford! 🌞

The painted birds from our volunteer day are now up around the farm, helping young visitors identify who's singing in the hedgerows and swooping across the yard. A small thing but it makes a big difference 🐦

Wild strawberries have appeared everywhere - tiny, intense and tasting exactly like strawberry sherbet. The young people have been finding them faster than anyone can count. One of our visitors also discovered a great diving beetle the size of her thumb! 🪲

Girls Do Dartmoor joined us for a day learning about how farming supports the Marsh Fritillary, wet weather and all. They found butterflies, Dartmoor wildlife and, we suspect, a new appreciation for waterproofs.

We've also had a corporate volunteer day on the farm, a newly installed irrigation system in the kitchen garden and our first Marsh Fritillary adult survey of the season.

We found 12 Marsh Fritillaries in flight, alongside 20 of their lookalikes, the small pearl-bordered fritillary. A good day on the moor! 🦋

Summer at Shallowford is very much underway.

11/06/2026

"I can remember, literally, looking over the hedge trying to see what was going on."

John Dracup grew up at Broadaford Farm, the neighbouring farm to East Shallowford. He was just a teenager when Elizabeth Braund and Rosemary arrived in the long hot summer of 1976.

He remembers the noise. The shrieks and screams of enjoyment echoing up and down the valley. The occasional bellow from Elizabeth to restore some semblance of order.

He remembers his father selling Elizabeth four fields near Frenches' Lane to extend the farm for her visitors. The phone calls about escaped sheep and the conversations over the boundary walls.

And he remembers sitting by the fire with Elizabeth in her later years, listening to her talk about the lung for the city - her philosophy, her vision and her deep belief that this place should be a refuge for those who need it. A space to understand the countryside, and more importantly, to understand themselves.

John has been a trustee of Shallowford for ten years. He's clear about what comes next - "My view is that we should be looking at the next 50 years. Continuing to deliver that vision. Ensuring it is a personal, life-enhancing experience for people."

And this, he reminds us, is just from the boy next door.

Story 23 in our 50 Years, 50 Stories series.

Read John's story in full in the comments 👇

10/06/2026

Meet some of the brilliant organisations joining us at Shallowford's 50th Birthday Fete this July 🌿

We're thrilled to welcome four incredible nature and conservation organisations to the farm on Saturday 18th July, each bringing something genuinely special to the day.

Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust will be running bug hunts to find and identify the invertebrates living at Shallowford - you might be surprised what's hiding in the grass!

The Woodland Trust are bringing their temperate rainforest terrariums - a hands-on chance to explore one of Britain's most precious and threatened habitats in miniature.

South West Peatland Partnership will be on hand to talk about the vital work of restoring Dartmoor's peatlands - and why it matters for wildlife, water and climate.

Dartmoor National Park are running a Dartmoor special features hunt - a brilliant activity for all ages to discover what makes this landscape so extraordinary.

Four brilliant organisations. One afternoon on Dartmoor. And it's completely free to attend.

Grab your ticket at the link below 👇

Over half of the tickets are already gone!

05/06/2026

Something a little different is happening at our Summer Coffee Morning next week 🦋

On Friday 12th June, we're inviting you to join us for coffee, cake, and a guided tour of our rhos pasture habitat to spot the Marsh Fritillary butterfly in flight.

The Marsh Fritillary is one of Britain's most threatened butterflies, and East Shallowford Farm is home to one of its last strongholds on Dartmoor. This is a rare chance to see it up close, learn about the habitat we're working to protect, and find out how you could get involved in our citizen science monitoring programme this summer.

Whether you're a nature enthusiast, a budding citizen scientist, or you just fancy a morning on the farm with good company and a biscuit, you're very welcome ☕️

Friday 12th June | 10am – 12pm | East Shallowford Farm

It's free to attend - just let us know you're coming through the link in the comments 👇

04/06/2026

"Green space is not a nice-to-have." 🌱

Jerome Hughes joined Providence House as CEO in May 2025, bringing more than two decades of experience in youth work across south London.

For the young people Providence House serves - growing up in flats above busy roads, in neighbourhoods where a patch of grass is something you walk past - time in nature is not a luxury. It's medicine. And it's increasingly out of reach.

The partnership with East Shallowford Farm, he says, is pound for pound the most transformational thing Providence House does.
He shares the words of a 13-year-old who cried on her first night at the farm, because she'd never been somewhere that quiet. By day three, she was helping with the piglets and laughing more than she had in months 🐖

Over the last three years, Providence House has delivered thirteen residentials to East Shallowford Farm. Thirteen groups of young Londoners given open moor, fresh air, animals, mud, stars and silence ✨

"We have been working with Shallowford for 50 years. And that is what we plan to keep doing."

Story 22 in our 50 Years, 50 Stories series is here.

Read Jerome's story in full through the link in comments 👇

29/05/2026

🎉 Save the date for Shallowford's 50th Birthday Fete! 🎉

This summer, East Shallowford Farm turns 50. And we're throwing a seriously big party to celebrate.

On Saturday 18th July, we're opening our gates for a free community fete. This is a day for everyone who has ever been part of the Shallowford story, and everyone who hasn't found us yet.

Expect farm animals, nature activities, Morris dancing, food, games, storytelling and plenty of Dartmoor sunshine. All set against the backdrop of one of England's most beautiful National Parks.

Entry is completely free but tickets must be booked in advance and once they're gone, they're gone! 🎟️

Some food and activities will be offered on a donation basis.

Grab your free tickets at the link below in the comments 👇

28/05/2026

"I thought I'd died and gone to heaven."

Helen Norden was 13 years old when she first came to East Shallowford Farm in 1977, on a school trip from Battersea. She loved animals. She was suddenly surrounded by them 🐷🐄

In the decades since that first visit, Helen has lived at the farm, worked at the farm, raised children near the farm and volunteered at the farm.

She describes sliding down Barn Park field on empty feed sacks in the snow and George the bull deciding he'd like to join in. Picking carrots from the garden, with no idea what they looked like underground 🥕

She talks about Miss Braund and Rosemary - opposite in every way and yet perfectly balanced. And she talks about what it meant to be a child from the Doddington Estate in Battersea.

"For people used to these things as everyday matters, it is hard for them to appreciate just what it meant."

In this 50th year, Helen says it's important that visiting children get told about two ladies who bought a farm so that children like her could come out of the city and be immersed in something beautiful.

Shallowford has made a difference to her life for 49 years. Long may it continue.

Story 21 in our 50 Years, 50 Stories series is here.

Read Helen's story via the link in the comments 👇

21/05/2026

"Here's the baton. Run with it."

This week marked 13 years since Elizabeth Braund passed away. So it feels right that this week's story belongs to someone who knew her well.

Dr John Wibberley - Professor of Agriculture, Friend of Shallowford, and someone who first met Elizabeth Braund (the remarkable woman who founded this place) in a lunch queue at a farmers' event in the 1990s - has spent decades watching the baton she passed on being carried forward.

He describes his early impressions of East Shallowford as a place full of potential. Young people arriving on a moorland farm and beginning, for the very first time, to understand where their food comes from. Children who had never sat and looked at a star before - and finding themselves saying "Wow."

He talks about the fireplace and successive communities gathering in circles, watching the flames, absorbing something difficult to put into words.

And he talks about Elizabeth herself - a visionary who, he believes, would have said: "Don't make it all about me. It's about the work. Move on. Run with it."

And of course, Shallowford is still running today.

Story 20 in our 50 Years, 50 Stories series.

Read John's story in full - the link is in the comments 👇

20/05/2026

Earlier this month, Shallowford Farm featured on BBC Radio Devon with Caroline Densley - and we think it's well worth a listen back! 🎙️

You'll hear from the Barley Lane boys - talking about the farm, the animals, and what a week on Dartmoor actually feels like when you've grown up in the city. Raw, real and genuinely brilliant.

Plus Fiona's interview, where she talks about the farm's work, the young people who come here, and what it means to be celebrating 50 years of making a difference.

The Shallowford feature starts at 1 hour 26 minutes in the main programme if you want to skip straight to it.

Both links are in the comments below 👇

BBC Devon

18/05/2026

Last autumn, 163 children from seven Plymouth schools came to East Shallowford Farm across eight weeks 🐖🚜

Many of them were away from home for the very first time, stepping into a world of open fields, farm animals and Dartmoor skies that couldn't feel further from the city streets they'd left behind.

Seven schools took part, all serving communities in Plymouth with high levels of disadvantage. Over four nights each, they fed the animals, worked the land, climbed Corndon Tor, and sat around the fire together 🔥

By the end of the week, their teachers were asking to come back. And so were the children.

We're proud to share our Plymouth Schools report - a snapshot of what those eight weeks looked like and what they meant.

Thank you to John Lewis Partnership Nature Fund and PCiP - Promoting Children in Plymouth for making this possible.

Link to the report in the comments 👇

Address

Dartmoor National Park
Widecombe
TQ137PW

Website

https://www.shallowfordfarm.co.uk/

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