This year's Open Farm Sunday enjoyed a record-breaking day with - it is believed - more than quarter of a million visitors attending.
LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) paid tribute to the hundreds of farmers who opened their gates, and thanked all those who helped and supported them.
The event, on Sunday (7 June), was the tenth anniversary for Open Farm Sunday, and nearly 400 farms opened this year.
While final figures are still being obtained, LEAF estimates that visitor numbers for 2015 will be over 250,000 - exceeding the record-breaking attendance of 2014 by more than 15 per cent.
Annabel Shackleton, Open Farm Sunday manager at LEAF, said: “Our tenth Open Farm Sunday has been a resounding success and a fantastic celebration of British farming and food. From the feedback received so far, it’s clear that Open Farm Sunday enabled hundreds of thousands of people to have an amazing day in the countryside, learning about farming and the story behind their food.
'We’re particularly delighted so many families took the time to visit farms up and down the country, many for the first time. On behalf of LEAF I’d like to offer a huge thank you to everyone involved. Open Farm Sunday 2016 will be on 5 June, so please put the date in your diary so we can continue to build on the success we have achieved together.”
Farming Minister George Eustice, who joined LEAF’s chief executive Caroline Drummond on a tour of Park Farm in Westerham, Kent, said: “I’m delighted to support the Open Farm Sunday event again this year by visiting one of the hundreds of farms across the country opening their gates to the public.
'This initiative is a fantastic way of raising awareness of the essential role farming plays in all our lives, helping everyone learn more about where food comes from and inspiring young people to consider a rewarding career in farming.”
Ahead of Open Farm Sunday, the campaign achieved more than 30 mentions across national print, web and broadcast coverage, including: James Martin’s Saturday Kitchen show on BBC; Chris Evans, Steve Wright and Simon Mayo’s shows on Radio 2; and ITV’s Good Morning Britain and This Morning TV shows.
The farming and food celebrations continued across social media on the day, where the Open Farm Sunday hashtag, #OFS15 was the UK’s third top trending topic on Twitter on Sunday morning.
This year's event was sponsored by Aldi, Arla, Asda, BASF, Defra, Farmcare, Farmers Weekly, Frontier Agriculture, John Deere, Kellogg’s, LEAF Marque, Marks and Spencer, NFU, Syngenta, The Tesco Eat Happy Project, Waitrose and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.
