14.08.08 | Field To Fork School Tour Launch

The sun was shining and the sky was blue, so we couldn’t have asked for better weather to launch our new Field to Fork school tours. A key aspect of our Community Plan, the tours invite local school children, aged 7 to 14 years old, to come and spend the day with us. In conjunction with Langmead Farms, we showed them how lettuce is grown, harvested, processed and packaged in our factory.

Armed with their wellies we started the tour with a visit to the lettuce fields of Langmead Farms, where the children experienced first hand how lettuce is grown and harvested. Muddy wellies safely stored on the bus and freshly picked Baby Gems in hand, it was back to our Head office in Selsey for the factory visit. After a presentation about Natures Way Foods it was off to the factory to see how we wash, mix and bag the lettuce;

‘It almost felt like a healthy Charlie and the Chocolate factory, with our students wide eyed with excitement being shown around by incredibly patient and informative members of the Natures Way team.’ Charli Wilkins, Teacher, Warblington School

To finish the day the children then spent time in our Innovation Kitchen with our Development Team, Alex and Alicja, who had laid on a colourful spread of different leaves and fruit for the children to taste and make up their own unique salad to take home for dinner that evening.

‘All students keenly tasted a variety of lettuces, micro-herbs and fruits, largely due to the enthusiasm and flair of the Chef.’ Sam Budd, Deputy Headteacher, Central CofE School

To end what was a fantastic and fun day for all involved, the children received a free goody bag, full of educational, but fun material, which included the salad bag they created in the innovations kitchen; a timeline of the field to fork process; salad and fruit recipe cards; a Natures Way Foods Fact card and environmental fact card and a bug identification leaflet with a magnifying card.

The tours were a fantastic success and it was great to see the children’s enthusiasm and interest come out in their questions; even those who didn’t normally eat salad got stuck in and tried something new in the kitchen session.