The good life

SPITALFIELDS CITY FARM

Away from the grey roar of Bethnal Green Road, through the back streets behind Brick Lane, you suddenly come upon an astonishing sight: fields with pigs and a donkey. Three white geese escort you into a series of cobbled courtyards. A small sign points to Spitalfields City Farm.

This farm began life as allotments on the site of a former railway goods depot in 1978. The locals kept chickens, rabbits and geese. As the farm grew, it attracted local funding allowing it to take on permanent staff. Today the farm has 1.3 acres of land and is home to various rare breeds: bantam hens, Ursula and Una the Golden Guernsey goats, Itchy and Scratchy the Kune Kune pigs, and Mavis the donkey, who spends December performing in Nativity plays.

There is also The Coriander Club, which grows herbs and spices used by the local Bangladeshi community to make curries.

Farm manager Rebecca Luff, 39, has been here fulltime for six years; previously she worked for Kentish Town City Farm. She lives in West London with her partner Alan Sparks and baby Amelia. 'I love being able to step out of the office and stroke an animal,' she says.

The farm is supported by a small grant from the council, sponsorship from several City firms and banks, the Adopt An Animal scheme for visitors, and 500 volunteers.

Carrie Beeson, beauty PR for Dior, helps here 14 hours a week, co- ordinating the corporate volunteer challenges which range from building sheds to painting murals. 'It is such a contrast from my day-today work. It is bliss to sit with the chickens in my grubby jeans.' The farm receives upwards of 20,000 visitors a year, many of whom are young people from broken homes.

Urban farms have an acknowledged role to play in urban regeneration, and it is no coincidence that London's 17 farms are all situated close to deprived areas. Urban farms also provide eggs and organic vegetables for the local community.

However, Spitalfields is under threat of development. The East London Line, scheduled for 2006, will run through the farm's horticultural section, though Tower Hamlets Council has promised to relocate it. Luff is philosophical: 'It's a tremendous blow, but it's also an opportunity. We'll get compensation with which we'll design a new section. And the noise shouldn't bother the animals; they are used to the sounds of London.'

FREIGHTLINERS

FARM Freightliners Farm, run by Robert Donkers, 41, is hidden behind Liverpool Road in Islington. A barn, a mobile shed and a cluster of Wendy houses flank a courtyard with paths leading to a garden, beehives and a poly tunnel. It looks slightly chaotic with its halfconstructed straw-bale eco-barn. Supported by celebrities including Antony Worrall Thompson and Rick Stein, Freightliners is expanding fast. Set up in 1978 by a group of Islington hippies, the animals were kept in freight wagons on disused railway land at King's Cross. In 1979 they moved to Paradise Park; there are now 18 paid members of staff and 40 regular and 140 part-time volunteers.

The 2.5-acre farm has 100 animals; many are rare breeds such as Middle White and Berkshire pigs, Brahma chickens, giant Runt pigeons and chinchillas.

There is also a composting scheme for local residents. The Wendy houses are part of a new project to build a 'village' where children can meet rabbits, chickens and goats. 'I keep giant rabbits,' says Donkers, 'so that the children can't pick them up and then drop them.' The farm costs around Pounds 250,000 annually to run, obtained through grants, donations and their chief annual fundraising venture: an opera. Last year Hansel and Gretel was attended by 300 people which raised Pounds 12,500.

'I love it,' says Donkers, who looks more like an advertising executive than a farmer. Formerly an osteopath and opera singer, he became interested in city farming when he volunteered on a farm in his native Holland. He lives in Finsbury Park with his partner Justin Johnson.

'The farm has to make so many concessions because we're in an urban environment, but the lack of space means there's more contact with the animals,' explains Donkers. He and his team give local children the chance to learn animal husbandry, although they may get a slightly sophisticated impression from the Araucana chickens' green eggs. Freightliners also runs carpentry, spinning, weaving and dyeing workshops.

'You dream of moving to the country but then you always want the city as well. This is a magical, in-between place,' says Donkers.

HACKNEY CITY FARM

Hackney City Farm is found in the middle of the industrial wastelands of Hackney.

The 1.5-acre farm is approached via the thunderous Hackney Road. So it is a surprise to suddenly find yourself in a field surrounded by pigs, sheep and a huge Norfolk Black turkey called Eric.

The farm manager, Chris Pounds, is a spikyhaired, 38-year-old who is married with two children and has a sheep farm in Kent. He has been farming here for 11 years. Previously he ran his own farm- maintenance business. The farm was founded in 1984 by local Hackney resident Janet Goldman and is now run by a committee of locals on the site of what was formerly a brewery.

The farm has 60,000 visitors every year and around 300 animals, including 250 poultry.

Admission is free, as it is to all city farms, and it makes its money mainly through social enterprises such as the cafe, where 10,000 fresh eggs a year are sold, as well as hay and straw.

Cafe Frizzante is particularly popular with locals, and, according to cafe manager Armando Varlotta, formerly head chef at the ICA, Jarvis Cocker, Julie Christie, Graham Norton and Suggs from Madness are all regulars. Armando set up the cafe two years ago. Set in one of the farm buildings, it sells coffee and robust food such as red onion and goat's cheese tart, and pork belly in ciabatta. The farm also provides a vegetable garden where children can play.

'It's wonderful,' says local resident Dylan Emery, financial editor of International Investment. 'My girlfriend and I like to walk here at weekends.

It helps me keep my feet on the ground.' Armando is currently building a farm shop to start selling herbs and other produce from the farm. 'It's so unusual to have such a place in the city. I am Italian and in my culture we love to have children around us, so I have created a cafe such as you might find in Italy, where children are welcome.' Pounds adds, 'We used to support the neighbouring Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the farm animals were a great source of healing for the patients. But when the hospital closed we found our grant slashed and had to survive on Pounds 25,000 a year. We had to diversify. Now activities include pottery, storytelling and cycle maintenance. It allows us to keep going, which is the most important thing.' For further details, contact the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (0117 923 1800; www.farmgarden.org.uk)

(c)2005. Associated Newspapers Ltd.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.