Website: http://www.vauxhallcityfarm.orgYesterday ABJ and I visited Vauxhall City Farm. This was the nearest city farm to where we live but was still a long tube ride away. When we finally arrived at Vauxhall we were greeted by a corridor of vandalised bikes, a collection of "Murder" signs and a crowd of drunks wandering the streets. We picked our way through the decay and followed the signs to the farm.
The farm was tucked away on a side street and we were welcomed by the cockerel crowing. The first definite evidence that we'd arrived at the farm was the two cows in a field next to the local park:
We then realised where to go and went in the main gate. Immediately we peered in the first room and saw some fat rabbits and cute guinea pigs.
It was soon clear to me that this was going to be the main part of the visit - cooing over cute animals. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I think I read somewhere that some city farms do pony rides...The next sight was a pen filled with moulting chickens. These were running around trying to clear out their plumage. This led to some ridiculous looking birds with feathers all down their legs:
We then found ourselves in the Eco-garden which had a pond and a hut built from old tyres.
When we returned to the chicken area we were alarmed to see a chicken lying on the floor looking like it was dead. It lay on its side, still and lifeless. Very concerned for its well-being I went to tell one of the farm helpers. I spoke to a man supervising the construction of some bird-houses for local children and was told to speak to another helper. This one also looked very grave and walked with me to the chicken. He picked it up carefully and placed it on a plank of wood. "Oh she's alrigh'. She were sunbathing that's all!" It was fine. How embarrassing.We retreated back to the main gate area and continued to explore the rest of the farm. There were plenty of stables with guinea pigs, ferrets, ducks and chicks crawling through the straw bedding. In addition to these typical farm animals we were surprised by how many pigeons there were. In each room there were loads of pigeons pecking through the straw and feeding in the food bowls. I guess they put the "city" in "city farm".
Opposite these stables were some larger animals including sheep:
pigs,
and massive noisy ducks:
We also saw a llama that looked just as lifeless as the chicken we saw earlier. But we'd learnt our lesson. It looked dead but was really just sunbathing (don't worry - we saw it walking around later on):
Beyond the larger animals and ducks (including some funny-looking tufted-head ducks) was the Community Garden which grew corn, tomatoes and lots of other things. ABJ tried to make friends with the local cat but we found it hard to get any acknowledgement from it:
We peered into the private allotments nearby and then returned the way we had come back to the main gate. On the way we saw another llama that needed a hair-cut:
and made a donation "down the cow's bum" to help them continue their good work:
Summary: Good fun and inspiring to know there's people out there to help look after the variety of animals that end up in the farm (e.g. from "saved from the slaughter-house" to "left by the farm gates").
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