James Atkinson
Why Open the Gate?
Farming in Cumbria has always been a shared affair. Neighbours help with clipping, haymaking and gathering sheep off the fells, and in return they expect a brew and a bit of craic in the yard. An open day is simply that same spirit widened out to the village, the nearest town, and the visitors who drive past your gate every summer wondering what goes on behind the drystone walls. It builds goodwill, shifts a bit of produce, and gives children a genuine connection to where their food comes from. It also, if you're honest, gives you a deadline to tidy the place up.
What follows is a practical plan drawn from smallholdings and hill farms that hold open days without losing a day's work or a night's sleep. Keep it modest the first year. Fifty visitors on a sunny Saturday is a success.
Start with a Date, a Route and a Guest List
Pick a time of year when there is something worth seeing — lambing in spring, shearing in early summer, or the tail end of haymaking. Avoid the middle of a busy stock week. Choose a Saturday, give yourself at least eight weeks' notice, and tell the parish council and the local pub early so they can put it in the newsletter.
Then walk the site as if you were a stranger. Decide on a single loop that takes in the yard, one field, the hen house and the produce stall, and ends back where people parked. Sketch it on paper, note the bottlenecks, and keep the whole circuit under an hour for a slow walker.
- Mark the entrance and one-way parking with clear signage, not just a wave of the hand.
- Set a firm start and finish time, and stick to it.
- Cap numbers by parking, not by enthusiasm. If the field takes forty cars, that is your limit.
- Keep the loop away from the silage pit, the slurry store, grain bins and chemical cabinets. These are the places people wander to when they think nobody is watching.
Tours That Do Not Take All Day
You do not need to be a tour guide. Short, honest stops work far better than a long lecture. Plan four or five stations and let visitors move between them at their own pace, with you or a helper on hand at each one.
- The yard stop: talk about the tractor, the quad and the trailer — what they do, why they are not for climbing on.
- The stock stop: how you manage grazing, what the different breeds are, and why you move animals between fields.
- The poultry and small stock: eggs, bedding, feeding routines, and how you keep foxes out.
- The produce stop: jams, chutneys, eggs, wool, veg boxes — whatever you actually sell.
- The machinery shed: look from the doorway only, never inside, unless everything is switched off, keys removed and the PTO guarded.
Write a couple of bullet points on a laminated card for each stop so that a friend or family member can take over while you deal with a stuck gate or a restless ewe.
Safe Animal Viewing
Animals and crowds are a tricky mix, especially with cows in calf or ewes with lambs at foot. Assume that every visitor will try to stroke something, and design around that assumption.
- Use double fencing or hurdle panels so people can see over but not reach in.
- Keep any animal that is protective, unwell or newly moved well away from the route.
- Put a clear sign at every pen: Please do not feed, touch or enter. No exceptions, no matter how sweet the child.
- Provide a hand-washing point with soap and running water near the exit from the animal area, and a sign reminding people to wash before eating.
- Keep dogs on leads or, better, ask people to leave them at home.
- Have a simple plan for a minor injury: first aid kit, ice packs, and a contact number for the nearest GP or minor injuries unit.
If you are handling livestock during the day, do it from a safe distance and keep the public behind a barrier. A calm demonstration of shearing or foot trimming is far more memorable than a close encounter nobody can control.
Produce, Stalls and a Bit of Money
A produce stall does not need bunting and a card reader. A pasting table, a cash tin with change, and a hand-written price list work perfectly. Sell what you genuinely have surplus of: eggs, jam, chutney, cakes, wool, bundles of kindling, surplus veg. Price sensibly and put the money towards something visible — a new gate, feed for the winter, or a donation to the local fell rescue team.
- Invite one or two nearby makers — a beekeeper, a cheesemaker, a spinner — and let them run their own table.
- Offer a brew and a slice of cake for a fixed price. It slows people down and gives them a reason to linger.
- Keep a donations jar for anyone who wants to support the day without buying anything.
- Sort out a float in advance. Nothing kills momentum like hunting for change.
Insurance, Help and the Boring Bits
This is where a good open day is made or lost. Speak to your insurer well before the date and tell them exactly what you plan to do. Most farm policies cover normal agricultural activity, but a public event may need extra cover or a temporary extension. Check public liability limits, confirm whether you need a risk assessment in writing, and ask about food hygiene rules if you are selling anything you have made.
Do not try to run the day alone. Ask family, neighbours and a few willing volunteers to take shifts on the gate, the stalls and the stations. Give each a clear role and a time to stand down. Brief them on the route, the rules and who to fetch if something goes wrong.
Finally, keep a simple risk assessment on paper: trip hazards, livestock, machinery, weather, parking, and the hand-washing point. Put up a few obvious signs about uneven ground and closed gates. Then relax, put the kettle on, and let the village see what you actually do all year. Most of them will be back next spring, and some of them will offer to help.
