New chapter begins at Byker City Farm

Sep 26 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

IT was Animal Farm once more yesterday in one of Tyneside’s special valleys.

A new chapter was opened at Ouseburn Farm in Newcastle when animals returned after an absence of eight years.

Wallsend-born actress Charlie Hardwick, from Emmerdale , opened the new barn at the farm which will house the animals.

The former Byker City farm, which stood on the same location, closed in 2002 so that the lead-contaminated site could be cleaned up in what became a three-year remedial operation.

The replacement Ouseburn farm opened in 2005, but without animals until funds could be found to build the barn. Now Tamworth pigs, Jacob’s sheep, goats and poultry have arrived, together with four farm cats recruited from the Drifter’s Reach cats refuge in Scotswood, Newcastle.

Mandy Oliver, farm project manager, said: “Having the farm in the heart of the city gives children the chance to befriend the kind of animals which aren’t a common fixture in the East End of Newcastle. When our cockerel arrived and started crowing, I realised that was what had been missing.

“The farm is just one phase of the development which will bring a variety of agricultural, horticultural and environmental projects to the Ouseburn valley.”