From our education building you can set out to discover farmland, woodland and wetlands.

With accessible indoor spaces, kitchen and toilets we can cater for a wide variety of activities whatever the weather!

Scroll down to view our sample sessions- we can adapt these for any age.

Please ask about the availability of our free 2-hour sessions for primary and secondary schools.

A whole day visit including lunch.  Adaptable for all ages.

Do you know where your food really comes from?

On this visit you will experience a day on a working farm to understand what happens to produce the food we eat.

Meet the animals on the farm: hens, sheep, cattle, Bill the sheepdog, geese (seasonal).

Use ‘Mini Fields’ to discover how much land is required to grow different food crops and rear farm animals.

Visit an organic apple orchard and sample the juice produced from fruit grown on the farm.

See the beehives and learn about the vital role bees have in pollinating crops and taste the honey they produce (seasonal).

Spend time in our education centre kitchen creating a delicious homemade lunch using locally sourced organic ingredients using meat, fruit and eggs from the farm.

Recycle the waste with a visit to our compost heaps.

Menu options will be seasonal (please note there is an additional charge for lunch).

Try kneading your own dough to create bread rolls inspired by nature, such as butterflies, hedgehogs or snails!

Have a go at scone making to create a tasty base for Susan’s Farm's popular hedgerow jelly.

Boil an egg laid fresh only hours before.

Or why make a tasty shepherd's pie using mint from our garden and our own lamb, or pasta bolognaise and apple crumble?

Please note we can offer 2hr of this visit as a FREE visit subject to availability and eligibility- please ask 

A 2 hour visit can be combined with another activity for a whole day visit.

Ideal for Key Stages 1 and 2 but can be adapted for all ages.

An ideal introduction for groups of any age visiting the farm for the first time. We’ll take a walk around the farm and countryside, visiting an organic apple orchard, hay meadows, bee hives and woodland, learning about different animals and habitats along the way.

Each person can collect natural objects they find along the journey finding interesting colours and textures and stick them to their ‘journey stick’ along the way.  Completed journey sticks can go back to school or home to help share the experience and learning.

Please note we can offer this visit for FREE subject to availability and eligibility- please ask

A 2 hour visit or can be combined with another activity for a whole day visit.

Ideal for Key Stages 1,2,3 or 4 but can be adapted for all ages.

Learn about sex, reproduction and relationships, using examples from animals at the farm.  EYFS can have a hands on experience with lambs, calves and tadpoles to generate interest in the way that life reproduces in a variety of ways.

Please note we can offer this visit for FREE subject to availability and eligibility- please ask

A 2 hour visit or can be combined with another activity for a whole day visit.

Adaptable for all key stages.

Discover different habitats around the farm, including fields, hedgerows, long grass, woodland and wetland. 

Choose from a variety of different activities to make a learning package to suit your needs:

Hunt for minibeasts, look at them closely and think about how they are adapted to live where they live.

Compare different habitats and the living things that call it their home.

Explore food chains and food webs, looking at energy flow.

Consider the effects of removing one element from a food web.

Create new habitats.

Start your nature journal as you explore the living world.

Design your superhero from the minibeast adaptations you discover (biomimicry).

Please note we can offer this visit for FREE subject to availability and eligibility- please ask

Land artist Richard Shilling was working alongside Y.10s from Trinity School.

A 2 hour visit or can be combined with another activity for a whole day visit.

Adaptable for all ages.

Choose from a variety of different activities to make a learning package to suit your needs.

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY - Den building

Meet National Curriculum objectives, sorting natural and synthetic materials.

Build dens in our wood, looking at stronger structures.

Work as a team moving, arranging and fixing materials.

ART -Let nature inspire you

Use examples from Andy Goldsworthy to produce your own natural instillations.  

Try bark rubbing.

Create a collage from natural objects.

Create 2D and 3D structures from natural materials.

Draw and paint natural objects.

MUSIC- Listen closely to the soundscape

Form a woodland orchestra using percussion instruments and shakers filled with items you have collected.

Use the outdoors as your open air concert hall.

DRAMA- If it's good enough for Shakespeare: 'This green plot shall be our stage'

Act out scenes in our woodlands.

Gather props from the natural world.

Make costumes from what you find.

PHOTOGRAPHY- Let the landscape inspire you

Choose your subject matter, mood, timing and lighting.

Use the sunshine and canopy to capture a scene.

Look up, down and around for unique fields of view. 

A 2 hour visit or can be combined with another activity for a whole day visit.

Adaptable for Key stages 3 and 4

This could be a good session to opt for having  lunch at the farm, to try organic food!  

Reflect on our human impact on the environment and consider how we can help to preserve the earth’s resources and  live more  sustainably.

Learn about the ethos of organic farming, and think more deeply about the benefits and challenges involved in farming in an environmentally friendly way.

Apply philosophical approaches of deontology or teleology to debate big questions such as ‘Should I eat meat?’ , ‘Why buy local?’ ‘How can I reduce my carbon footprint?’ or  ‘ Should I shop fair trade?’

Please note we can offer this visit for FREE subject to availability and eligibility- please ask

A whole day visit including lunch. 

Adaptable for all ages- groups of up to 15 only (wear old clothes)

Can you survive in the woods?

Hone your bushcraft skills and see if you can survive for the day.

Try to build an overnight debris shelter- will it be watertight or not?

Rescue your friends and teachers in a First aid scenario (warning – there may be gory bits (fake blood)!

Build an upside-down campfire to cook lunch and toast marshmallows.

Try your hand at making dirty water safe to drink.

A 2 hour visit or can be combined with another activity for a whole day visit.

Adaptable for Key stage 4 and above.

Get rid of technology for the day!

Take time out to reflect on your use of technology and enjoy immersing yourself in nature, (device free!).

Enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the farm wetlands woodlands site

Listen to the natural soundscape and try out distracting yourself with some other relaxing activities to replace texting, scrolling, and updating social media.

Each changing season at the farm is different and offers a different insight in to life on the farm and the nature around us. 

Please note we can offer these visits for FREE subject to availability and eligibility- please ask

Spring – Lambing

2 hour visit, or can form part of a whole day visit, combined with another activity, perhaps looking at tadpoles or claves to reinforce work on life cycles.

Suitable for all ages, apart from pregnant women.

Meet new born lambs and learn about how they are looked after at the farm.

Please note that lambing time only occurs for a few weeks each year, and these sessions are very popular, so please book early. This year, lambing starts on 25th March. There are a few spaces left if you would like to come for a visit.

Summer sports

2 hour visit, or can form part of a whole day visit, combined with another activity.

Suitable for Key stages 1-2, particularly aimed at city centre / urban schools who limited  outdoor space and no sports field.

Join us for some  fun farm themed sports day races, such as fill the water trough relay, 3 legged  animal races,  sack races and dress up as a farmer dressing up race, and of course, egg and spoon races!

Nativity at the farm 

2 hour visit, or can form part of a whole day visit, combined with another activity.

Suitable for Key stages 1-2, particularly church schools. Dressing up is optional!

Reflect on the role of animals and agriculture in the Christmas story, as you follow gospel accounts from the Bible at different places on Mary's and Joseph’s journey, finishing up in our Houghton manger.

End your visit with candlelit carols in the woods and a homemade organic mince pie and mulled apple juice. 

To travel to Susan's Farm from Carlisle: take the Brampton Road (B6264). At The Near Boot  pub turn left.  Drive past Cumbria Wildlife Trust. Susan's Farm is up a lane just passed the second building on the left in the village of Houghton - 3/4 mile from pub.

To travel to Susan's Farm from M6: turn off the M6/A7 junction 44, take the A689 towards Hexham.  After 1/2 mile turn right into the village of Houghton.  Susan's Farm is on the right where the pavement ends, as you pass out of the village. If you reach Cumbria Wildlife Trust, you have gone too far.

Parking: cars and minibuses may park in the car park up the lonning.  Coaches should park on the layby  on the main road next to the Susan's Farm side.  Please ensure that passengers alight on the wall side of the layby, rather than into the traffic.