After a wild weekend battling Storm Darragh, sadly Apple Tree Farm Services got a bit battered!
Apple Tree Farm Services CIC is a therapeutic and alternative education provision providing animal therapy, support and education to young people who need something a little bit different in North Devon. We open our gates to vulnerable children - they might be out of school, or struggling to attend, they may have experienced trauma, or be neurodivergent. Almost all will have social, emotional or mental health difficulties. We also offer group sessions to locals schools and home educated families.
We aim to nurture, educate and motivate the children that come to us via animal therapy, play, cooking and eating together, bushcraft skills, and making use of our bespoke sensory room - all using therapeutic approaches. We build personalised support programmes for our children using their strengths and interests.
We involve our young people with decision making, and encourage their ideas. Children that attend and assist with the day to day running of the farm, build up their self esteem through their success with hands on or educational attainment, improve their social skills with their mentor or with other children accessing the farm, and are more likely to re-engage with their education. It's so rewarding to play a part in this.
Storm Darragh has demolished our feed store roof, lifting the corrugated roof panels off and damaging them. Some of the animal feed in our food store was damaged in the rain. Our permanent marquee structures have been damaged. Many panels have been torn and will be unusable. This undercover outdoor space is invaluable for our young people to meet, eat, relax, work and play. The storm also wiped out our popular mud kitchens which we'd like to replace. It tore down fencing surrounding our goats so we had to move them to safety in the midst of the storm. Amazingly no animals or humans were hurt over the weekend and we are incredibly grateful for that.
We had to cancel children's sessions following the storm and close our farm gates while our amazing team of staff and some willing volunteers were onsite trying to make the farm safe, secure structures and remove debris. There will of course, be a financial implication to rebuild.
We have created this Crowdfunder page to ask for any donations to help us: re-roof our feedstore, repair fencing around the goat field, replace parts of our permanent outdoor marquees (offering children a weather-proof outdoor space to work, craft, make friendships over lunch) and to re-build one or two new mud kitchens. We would also like to spend some of this fund to strengthen the structures that survived because we fear they will not survive another storm. Our belief in our work is in early intervention, and this would be our priority to avoid any future loss.
The young people who attend Apple Tree Farm Services CIC really deserve to have their safe creative spaces to use especially during the winter months ahead and of course our animals would really appreciate having their food store fixed!
Any donations received will be so gratefully received and we will keep our progress with you updated via our social media pages.
If you have any questions about the work we do or the work we are planning on doing to rebuild the farm please feel free to get in touch with us.