Wednesday 20 November 2013

A wonderful rural trip

Have you seen wide open pastureland? Have you touched a baby calf which is only four months old? Have you taken a ride on a tractor in a narrow road and have you felt how that  pleasant feeling that nature and farming brings? All of these answers can be found at Beech Cliffe farm.
I was very glad that I had a chance to visit Beech Cliffe Farm, which has approximately 450 acres and is located near to the M6 motorway, Monkey Forest and Trentham Gardens. In addition, this farm has about 300 animals include 50 turkeys, 180 cows and 100 sheep.


I remembered clearly that we stood on the roadside and were waiting for the host there to pick us up. it really make amazed me when Gareth arrived driving his tractor which looked like a red monster,and the wheels were higher than me. Actually, I have never seen such a big tractor before. Behind the tractor there was a trailer that he used for loading livestock to Leek market. However, it was prepared for us at present. awesome! We got on the trailer, then drove towards the farm. On the way, everybody was excited and talked about what they saw and listened.


After about 7 minutes, we arrived at  the farm, and Natalie (Gareth's wife) was waiting for us at the gate. Afterwards, we went into a room and picked the suitable wellington boots, as it was very muddy outside. Following this, we started our brilliant farming trip.


First of all, Natalie took us to see turkeys in a field. we did not see anything when got there, but she just crowed a few times, and a large groups of turkey appeared suddenly and none of us knew where they came from. They stared at us surprising as well as they hoped we would give them some food. Unfortunately, we did not. Lorenzo asked  Natalie, whose nationality is French, " do you get attached to them". she said" I try not to". the reason may be is that she would not be too sad, if she sold them. When we left the field, I told her your turkeys were very disappointed because they did not get anything to eat and ran to you in vain.

A cowshed is in close proximity to the turkey enclosure. There were some baby calves, the exact numbers of which I did not count, but they are super cute. The first time that I touched one I was very nervous as I was afraid he would bite me. In fact, he not only was friendly and docile, but also allowed me to touch his head. I was very happy and Woon helped me take a photo with him.




Next station, we went to find the sheep in a very vast pastureland. It was comfortable to walk on the soft grass with cool breeze and sunset. I was curious that Natalie had said she brought us to see the sheep, but, so far, I did not even see a shadow of a sheep. until we climbed to the top of this gentle slope, I understood the reason. A vivid image of the scene rose before our eyes, there were two groups of sheep which were eating grass leisurely. Maybe our appearance bothered them and they stopped eating, just looked at us. We tried to approach, whereas they started to run away. Thus, we did not have a chance to touch them. Cate said" running under the sunset that is my lost youth." what a beautiful scenery!



First trip to visit a farm in the UK

Last Wednesday, i went to a farm which is located near to the Monkey Forest and Trentham Gardens. That was my first to visit a farm in the UK.
Last Wednesday we had a field trip to a farm , it is a unique experience in my life because I had not visited any farm in the UK before 
I was very amazed and completely taken by the nature there the trees were yellow and some of them were gold and red so I felt it is the most suitable time to visit a farm here in the country
Despite the fact that the weather was very cold and a bit windy this did not block us from having fun and getting some vital information about how the work goes in the farms here because I believe that this farm is typical to the , an other thing that made me very amazed how big the farm is and even though they are very organized and nothing will be left without an accurate observation
Another thing I was amazed about were the tools in the farm which are similar to what we have in Sudan with the same names, so I discovered that the Sudanese people are very influenced by English language as it is the second language in the country. I used to hear some words in English in my home but I did not   recognize the origin of these words until I came here which encouraged me more to learn the English
.language
       

Beechcliffe Farm

Last Wednesday,we went to the Beechcliff Farm.It is a memorable trip for us.



Turkeys for Christmas
There are cattles,lovely


A red cattle

A lovely cattle

A group of sheep


There are some big cows there.

There are some big cows.


This is the first time I went to a farm which is large 1.8 hectare (250 acres) .It is large and there are many cows,sheeps,turkeys and so on.Only 3 people work there, so it is not an easy job.Though it was cold,we all enjoyed the trip there.

A nice rural farm trip

We travelled to a rural farm called Beech Cliffe Farm last Wednesday.

Thursday 14 November 2013

Images of farm


Gareth arrives with his tractor and trailer..
Natalie and Gareth have 50 turkeys, which will be sold at Christmas.
Spot the cock turkey!
The young calves

The ear tags are like a passport, and without them they could be prosecuted or even face jail.


"Jaffa cake", the farm cat.
The Farm is situated next to the M6 motorway.
Good thing we had wellingtons!
In search of sheep.(running in the farm)



The Country code: close all gates!

The farm has 100 sheep, divided into two separate flocks. 


The hedges are full of wild fruit: blackberries, elderberries and wild nuts.



Wednesday 13 November 2013


Experience UK (life in the British Countryside)

November 13th 2013

Field Trip to Beech Cliff Farm, Tittensor.

 

 

Today’s Field trip will involve visiting a working farm just outside the village of Tittensor. On arrival, the farmer, Gareth Coles will take us on a guided tour, and will explain to us how the farm is run, and the work involved in maintaining it.

 

You will be expected to ask as many questions as possible.

Think about the following:

The type of farming he does

Life as a farmer today

Problems

The farming year

 

 

 

As this is a Field trip, it is important you think the health and safety of yourself and others:

a)      Be careful when walking along roads

b)      Close all gates behind you

c)       Do not drop litter

d)      Do not wander off, but stay with the group.

 

 

 

Have a great trip and remember to record and take photos for the blog!

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Role Play Interviewing a Farming Couple


https://soundcloud.com/lorenzo-ball/farmer-roleplay-wma-wma

Role play

Village Life

 

Your team will receive information on a village person for you to stage a role play interview.

This activity will help you to practice some of the questions you have chosen for the next field trip, when you will be expected to interview members of a village community.

 

 

This activity will involve four roles:

a)      The Interviewer

b)      Camera person (to film/take photos)

c)      Guest speaker (a village person)

d)      Journalist (to record the conversation in writing)

Obviously only two of the team will speak, but it is important that you decide together what you will say and how you record it.

 

In your team decide which role you will each take.

You will be provided with vocabulary and background information to help you.

 

The interview should last a maximum of 10 minutes. After which your team will be expected to work together to create a short podcast to be placed on the blog.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

Monday 4 November 2013

Understanding the North Staffordshire Dialect


You may hear some of the following expressions on our next field trip:

Ado                              Hello (How do you do)
Oh rate                          Al right/ Fine
Ta                                 Thanks
Owt                               Anything
Nowt                             Nothing
Babby                            Baby
Con                                Can
Ah conna                        I can't
Cudna                             I couldn't
Dunner                           Don't
Fam                                Farm
Git                                  Get
Gi                                   Give
Anna                               Hasn't
Wom/Om                        Home
Ar                                   How
Int it                                Isn't it
Inner                                Isn't
Mon                                 Man
Mam                                Mother
Nowt/Note                       Nothing
Owd                                 Old
Shudna                             Shouldn't
Summat                            Something
Tarm                                Time
Towd                               Told
Yo                                    You
Woss                                Worse