The Friends of Farm group in Kent and East Sussex have been fundraising for nearly thirty years and over the years have held many fantastic events.

This summer, they added a new event to their busy calendar, and on Sunday 2 August, Tim and Anne Jury opened up their farm and garden in Hastings to raise money for Farm Africa.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, no wind, just a slight breeze – perfect for tempting the local community to spend a leisurely day on the farm.

Tim, Anne, Tracey and their hard-working team of volunteers spent the morning baking cakes, decorating tables, hanging bunting, sorting raffle prizes, watering plants and carefully displaying crafts and jewellery for sale.

At 11am, guests began to arrive and enjoyed exploring the farm and admiring the gardens, tended by Jen and Steve Grist.

There was lots to do and visitors enjoyed tea and cake in the shady barn, shiatsu sessions given by Kathryn in the mini-yurt, tractor and donkey rides around the farm and picnics in the lower field.

It was a lovely enjoyable day that went by all too fast, and as the team relaxed with a barbeque in the evening sunset and counted up their takings, they were delighted to discover they had raised over £1,000 for Farm Africa.

Tim Jury summed up the day and gave his thanks to everyone that helped.

“What a day! And with around £1,100 raised a great deal of folk in Africa will be much better off thanks to all those super helpers, too numerous to mention, and of course all those that turned up to support such a great day. Special thanks to Tracey and Anne for thinking of the open garden idea and to Jen and Steve for their tireless efforts creating such an amazing space at the farm. It is extremely poignant that at a time when a so many desperate people are trying to find a better life by any means possible Farm Africa works at the very root of the problem.”

The group’s next event, Ride for Africa, is on Sunday 30 August. Horse riders or walkers can enjoy a 10 mile route through the villages of Fairlight, Pett and Guestling near Hastings, normally inaccessible to the general public. Find out more and sign up today.