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Charities & Organisations

For adults and young people we offer venue hire, learning programmes, and volunteering opportunities.

You might be a charity working with adults and young people or supporting those with learning disabilities or challenging social backgrounds. You could be an organisation seeking a welcoming and relaxed environment for a conference, meeting or residential stay. You might be looking for a place where your team can bond whilst corporate volunteering or you might want to come along yourself, to make a difference through volunteering. Magdalen Farm provides a range of options tailored to your needs - from unique day visits and learning programmes to longer stays in our residential centres.

Venue hire, team building and meetings

Venue hire facilities at Magdalen Farm

Organisations find that the welcoming and relaxed atmosphere of Magdalen brings out the best in people, allowing for a fresh perspective and creative thinking.  

We are happy to offer team building activities and farm tours as optional extras, and a range of catering options.  We carefully consider where we source our food and refreshments.  Most of our food is organic and local and cooked fresh in our kitchen on site.

You can either hire our accommodation and venue facilities or meeting rooms are available on a day rate basis.  

We are only 12 miles from scenic Lyme Regis and the stunning Jurassic Coast.  Easy train links from Crewkerne Station (London to Exeter Line).

"Superb location, rooms and meeting facilities.  Nice outdoor spaces on the working farm with professional yet laid back staff - thanks for making a wonderful stay" -  Envision Conference

To discuss your requirements in more detail please contact us.


Accommodation and facilities

Team dining at Magdalen Farm

Nestled in the heart of the West Country, Magdalen Farm has a comprehensive range of facilities.

Whether you come to us for a course, a specific activity or whether you hire a building for a family get together, you can enjoy…

  • Accommodation that is warm, clean and comfortable
  • Designated break out spaces 
  • 132 acres of space in which to provide learning and activity
  • Woodlands, grassy fields and lawns 
  • Vegetable gardens and orchards
  • Cob ovens for making pizza
  • Farm animals, including pigs, chickens, cattle and goats
  • A mile of riverbank, ponds and streams
  • Playing field with zip wire and climbing frame
  • Specialist facilities for people with disabilities (see below)

Guests staying overnight will enjoy accommodation in:

  • The Old Dairy, for 36 people (more by arrangement)
  • The Farmhouse for 25 people (more by arrangement)

You have the option of self-catering, or being catered for by us.

We provide homemade satisfying meals for our residential visitors using organic local ingredients.  

Take a look at the "Accommodation Gallery" to see more of our facilities.

To discuss your requirements in more detail please contact us.


Corporate volunteering and day volunteering for individuals.

Volunteers at Magdalen Farm

Have fun, connect with others and know that you are contributing to a charity making a difference to hundreds of people's lives. 

Corporate volunteers.

We are delighted to work with corporate volunteer groups and have done so for many years.  Skilled Magdalen staff will be with you throughout your day, demonstrating tasks, teaching techniques and making sure that everyone remains safe and happy.  Your day will be spent on a project outdoors, interspersed by a delicious lunch and once the project is complete there's time to say 'hello' to the animals.  We provide you with tuition, tools, safety gear, risk assessments and motivation.  Elsevier ltd from Exeter and Xylem from Axminster have regularly volunteered.  They have made compost beds, clad an outdoor building, removed Himalyan Balsam and much more.

 

Tuesday volunteering.

On a Tuesday we invite locals to volunteer, mainly in the vegetable and fruit gardens which are used as an educational resource, under the supervision of our Ranger.  You don't need to be skilled but a willingness to get involved is vital.  It's a nice way to meet like-minded people, be out in the fresh air and make a difference.  You receive a delicious lunch as a thank you.

 

“The team loved it. Everyone has come back and said how good it was and that they could see some real outcomes from the day. We’ll definitely return to Magdalen to support their vital work.” - Xylem Co-ordinator

 

If you would like to discuss a volunteering session on Magdalen Farm for your team, please give May or Rebecca a call on 01460 30144. 

If you would like to volunteer on a Tuesday please contact us.


For young people

 

Activities for young people at Magdalen Farm

Magdalen offers day visits and residentials with a balanced mix of learning new skills and knowledge and providing time for fun, reflection and rest from daily pressures.  It has helped many ‘At Risk’ Teenagers (for example, young people living in hostels, or refugees to this country) and provided the basis for Young Carers to enjoy a supported break away from home.

Construction, conservation and cooking are included along with group team building activities, animal care and plenty of space to make individual activity/relaxation choices. 

Outcomes are wide and varied:  physical and mental relaxation, knowledge gained in how to use tools, problem-solving, working together and increased self-awareness and self-acceptance are some of the benefits that young people have ascribed to their visit.

One of our partners has reported their young people become three times more likely to enter employment after a spell with us. 

"I learned a lot of stuff.  I’ve never been close to so many animals but I managed to walk Jenny the horse, feed the lambs and pigs, play with the chickens ... I loved the stay here and I’m definitely coming back”  
– Teenager 


For adults and young people with additional needs

Helping visitors with additional needs at Magdalen Farm

Magdalen is one of the UK’s leading Care Farms and we adhere to the Green Care Quality Mark, which acts as the national measure for quality control.

We mainly work with organisations who represent people with additional needs. We provide bespoke services depending on those needs; one-day sessions, residential visits or weekly programmes of activity.

We have worked extensively with:

  • specialist provision within colleges
  • organisations for people with neurodiversity
  • organisations for people with sensory impairment
  • day and reidential services for people with learning disabilities
  • housing associations
  • services for refugees and unaccompanied young asylum seekers
  • mental health support services

Spending time in nature is good for mental health.  Even better, doing meaningful activities out on the land, being active and connecting to others adds to these benefits.  There is a compelling body of evidence that illustrates how self-esteem and confidence increase, cortisol levels decrease and resilience is strengthened when in nature.

Magdalen Farm has a history of recognising the benefits and advocating for people in nature.

We have featured on Radio 4 on the benefits to mental health of Care Farming.  We were used as a case study by Natural England to promote its report on how ‘Connecting with nature offers a new approach to mental health care’.  We've supported new care farmers, even advised an international government and shared expertise with colleagues in the Netherlands, the first country to have an extensive network of care farms.  We've worked with universities on research and are currently part of a group of providers measuring the impacts of outdoor residential stays.

If you would like to discuss how we could support you, please call Rebecca on 01460 30144.

 

“There are so many activities at Magdalen that our service users can engage in and feel enabled by.  It just goes to show that with the right support, encouragement and access to educational services, the people we work with can feel free to flourish” 

Manager - Autism Wessex

Magdalen Farm
Winsham, Maudlin
Chard, Somerset TA20 4PA
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01460 30144

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Registered Charity in England and Wales 1002373