MORE than 1,800 people from toddlers to grandparents took the opportunity to find out more about life on a working farm at Wheelbirks for the farming industry’s biggest open day.

The Richardson family’s dairy farm near Stocksfield takes part in Open Farm Sunday every year, but 2018 broke all records.

“It was our busiest ever day with 1,862 people visiting us,” said Lucinda Richardson.

“The sun shone until 4pm, when we had a torrential downpour, but it didn’t spoil the day.”

Farm staff were helped out this year by volunteers from Whitley Chapel Young Farmers’ Club, said Lucinda.

Open Farm Sunday is organised by the charity, LEAF, (Linking Environment And Farming), and is one of the agricultural industry’s biggest success stories.

Since the first one back in 2006, more than 1,600 farmers across the UK have opened their gates and welcomed two million people onto their farms for one Sunday in June each year.

It provides the general public with an opportunity to discover at first hand what it means to be a farmer and the work they do to produce food and enhance the countryside.

LEAF is always on the look-out for more farms to join the Open Farm Sunday network.