A FARM near Ludlow that provides people with work experience and helps those with learning difficulties has been given a grant from Shropshire Council to enable it to undertake vital repairs and improve facilities.

Lower Bush Farm, near Ludlow, has received approximately £15,000 of grant funding from Shropshire Council in the wake of the pandemic to repair and upgrade its facilities.

Every day the farm welcomes local people, children and those with learning difficulties to provide opportunities for them to learn about farming, gain work experience, meet and look after animals, and develop rural and social skills.

The funding has enabled the farm to make essential repairs to its roof and flooring, which means it can stay open and continue to be a safe and comfortable environment for its visitors. Prior to the grant, the care farm was facing a real danger of becoming inhabitable, and may have had to close.

The funding was secured from the Additional Restrictions Grant scheme, administered by Shropshire Council.

ARG is a Government-funded initiative set up to support community groups in delivering services of community value throughout the pandemic and beyond.

“The funding has allowed us to insulate the roof and visitors already noticed how much warmer the barn is,” said Rowena from Lower Bush Farm.

“The funding has allowed us to insulate the roof and visitors already noticed how much warmer the barn is,” said Rowanna from Lower Bush Farm.

“It means that we can offer service users a warm place during the colder months and the option to work inside or outside depending on the weather, as not all people are outdoorsy.

“The warm barn also means we’ve been able to dry timber much easier, which allowed us to deliver a variety of festive projects to our service users in the build up to Christmas. Groups of teenagers were able to get involved with woodwork activities such as making candle holders and decorations, all of which were harvested from branches from our woods onsite.

“This inside space has made a huge impact on the types of jobs we can offer service users.

“We now always have several ongoing woodwork projects for different groups, and the barn is being used a lot more. The funding has had such a positive impact upon our service users and to our business and we are incredibly grateful.”