LOVE Gorgie Farm, formerly Gorgie City Farm, is set to reopen this Saturday with a huge celebration and range of family-friendly activities.
A number of local celebrities including Hearts and Hibs footballers, Edinburgh and Scotland rugby players, politicians and Council representatives will also be attending the festivities.
From 11am-3.30pm children (and even adults!) will get the chance to feed the animals on the farm, which include pigs, sheep and goats, and can even take some newly arrived alpacas for a stroll.
There will also be face-painting and a henna tattooist on hand, as well as entertainment for all, including tombola, music, a photo booth and much more.
Education and social care charity, LOVE Learning, took over the site of the former Gorgie City Farm in January after it went into liquidation in November 2019.
LOVE Learning has also organised a community consultation event, from 12pm-2pm, where visitors can tell the new owners about their hopes for the future of the farm.
The Farm has been opened earlier than expected thanks to the assistance of hundreds of volunteers who assisted in the two weeks running up to the reopening.
After the site opens its doors to the public it will remain open seven days a week and will be free for visitors. LOVE Learning intends to keep using the site as a city farm as part of their portfolio of environmental projects.
In addition, LOVE Gorgie Farm provides educational services to children through animal and forest therapy. It also provides a range of professional apprenticeships and Scottish Qualifications Authority awarded qualifications, as well as looking to be involved in organising social prescribing and wellbeing therapies in partnership with the NHS in the future.
Lynn Bell, CEO of LOVE Learning said: “We are incredibly excited to be opening LOVE Gorgie Farm much earlier than we anticipated and we are hoping for a great turnout on Saturday.
“This will also provide the chance through our consultation exercise for the local community to provide its views on what people would like to see the farm used for in the future.
“I would like to thank the hundreds of volunteers who have given up their valuable time to help get the farm up and running earlier than anticipated. We could not have done it without their crucial role.
“Not only will the farm remain open seven days a week and remain free, but we will provide a range of exciting education, environmental and social care programmes supporting vulnerable individuals.”
Sandy McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Detective Agency and 44 Scotland Street books, among others, said: “I am aware of the major role that Gorgie City Farm, now LOVE Gorgie Farm, plays in the local community.
“It is wonderful news that it has been rescued. It brings animals and the countryside into the lives of so many children, young people and adults, who might otherwise feel cut off from such things. Put simply, LOVE Gorgie Farm does a great deal of good.”
Mr McCall Smith has generously donated signed copies of his books for Saturday’s opening event.
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