Hello - we're Bath City Farm. 

A living, working farm that's also a popular visitor attraction and a charity. 

We provide 37 acres of green spaces for nature and people in Bath and beyond to thrive. Our targeted projects help around 800 children, young people and adults each year with mental health issues or additional learning needs to thrive and be well.

We are launching this campaign because we need to raise £30 000 to help care for our animals, maintain our beautiful 37-acre site, grow our services for the community over the next year, and keep our site free at the point of access.

Your support over the last years has helped us to:

• Maintain our stability during an eventful and challenging pandemic
• Provide relief to families in and around Bath
• Provide critical support and provide a safe space for people to recover from mental health issues

Now you can help us on our journey of growing new services for the community. We need to raise £30 000 to:

• Pay for animal care costs such as bedding, food, shelter and vet bills
• Increase the amount of food we grow for our cafe and community projects
• Provide more free public events
• Cover rising energy, food and material costs
• Add a farm shop and grow the number of farm made products
• Fund staff who make the farm possible and make the site a great base for our mental health projects, children and youths activities
• Maintain the farm as a free to access site for local communities

The money raised would pay for core costs such as staff to manage the farm site, rising energy costs, animal care costs such as bedding, food and vet bills and maintaining the site for the 42,000 people who visit the farm each year. 

The animals play a vital role in the targeted therapeutic work with participants of the Farm’s health and wellbeing programmes. For many, the Farm is a place to recover from acute mental distress and rebuild a healthier lifestyle, connecting with nature and each other. 

The Farm is a free resource for many families on a low income to spend a day out with children, to experience and meet farm animals and access vital green space. Visitors can also enjoy the nature trails around the 37-acre site, ponds, and children’s play areas, all of which cost money to maintain, for example upkeeping safe pathways and gardening the grounds and flower beds.  

Please support us by donating what you can

You can add your donation here on this page.

Quote from a participant of the farm's targeted mental health programme:

"I first heard about the farm when I was an inpatient at Hillview Lodge, a mental health hospital. I’d been living in a women’s refuge after coming out of a long abusive relationship. I felt like the world was a horrible place and had become terrified of people. 

The farm made me feel safe and helped me to trust again. I feel like I can do anything now, there are so many opportunities for me. I could be a vet or go into nursing. I want to help people, like they have helped me. I feel so much more able to cope. The future is exciting."

Farm Director Brendan Tate Wistreich said:  

“It is vital that we raise this £30,000 to care for our animals and maintain the Farm site over the next year. The money will cover vet bills, animal food, bedding and shelter as well as rising energy costs and funding the staff who make this place possible. Our beautiful site attracts around 42,000 people each year and they can visit the Farm free of charge with no admission fee, your support makes this possible.

This is a tough time for charities and many others, but we ask for those that can, to reach into your pockets and support us through this challenging time so that we can continue to be able to support those most affected by the current crises and keep this beautiful place open for those from Bath and beyond. “  

Here are just some of the ways your money helps support us:

£10 week feeds all our goats

£28 month feeds all our pigs

£50 a week pays for our vet bills

£60 a year buys bedding for one of our pygmy goats

£100 buys 10 metres of fencing 

£200 a day helps us to maintain our site and grounds

£270 a year pays for all our seeds

 Pictures: Ian Jeffery   ianjefferyphotography.co.uk and Jennifer Kelly www.jenniferkellyphoto.co.uk and Ros Bush Instagram: mrs.b.photography