Welcome to Gatehouse Farm
Gatehouse Farm is a small holding near Wool with 8 acres of land and masses of potential. Within its boundaries we offer countless possibilities for the young people that join us.
We are currently working on several areas of Gatehouse Farm in order to create the space that we want. At the moment, we have a single inside learning space where we can explore almost anything that our young people are interested in, from art to technology, as well as the vocational qualifications we offer here at Dorset Wellbeing.
Alongside our learning space, and with the help of our young people, we will soon be able to boast a fully functional woodworking workshop, a large and spacious kitchen and dining area, our exciting new allotments, and an amazing new outside learning space too.
As with all farms we have important daily tasks, and these are always precluded with a cup of tea and a chat. This is time to settle in after the journey to the farm and to chat to other members of the group. It’s where we have our first safety briefing of the day and discuss the day ahead.
We have a small number of pigs here as well as geese, ducks and chickens, and their care is paramount. Everyone gets a chance to feed the animals and collect the eggs each day – a favourite task for several of our young people.
At this time of year, we’re concentrating on our allotment; making new vegetable beds, planting more seeds and seedlings, weeding and creating new footpaths. This can be hard work for some and really hard work for others, but we have seen our young people really embrace this. They constantly impress us with their commitment and patience; gardening is a good opportunity to build resilience as results from the efforts made will often take months to see. We are all looking forward to harvesting the rewards of our labours and some almost seem keen to eat the vegetables we’re growing!
The list of vegetables that we have planted is growing as quickly as the seedlings themselves with Onions, Potatoes, Sprouts, Cabbages, Beetroots, Tomatoes, and even Melons. As with everything at Gatehouse Farm, we encourage our young people to get involved and to choose what we plant, and we will try almost anything. Failure is not a bad word at the farm - it is part of our world. We review, revise and move forward!
By the side of our allotments is an area that we are working on to create our own outside learning space. This place will have an outside seating area with a fire pit and group seating, as well as a sheltered quiet area for those that need their own space. We plan to plant many shrubs, plants and trees, all of which will be there to provide us with food. Fruit trees, bushes and herbs will surround us, some of which will be well known but others may be a little rarer. This outside learning space will hopefully give us a beautiful and thought provoking, year-round, changing environment that our young people can invest time and energy into, finding peace and calm when necessary.
