Gorgie Farm set to reopen under new name on Saturday

Volunteers including Gail Porter helped to get the farm ready

The former Gorgie City Farm will reopen under new name and ownership this Saturday.

LOVE Gorgie Farm will open with a celebration and a range of family friendly activities.

Hearts and Hibs footballers, Edinburgh and Scotland rugby players, politicians and Council representatives will be amongst those attending the festivities which begin at 11am on Saturday morning.

The animals will be used as therapy animals at the new farm

Take a look at these cute animals at Love Gorgie Farm as Gail Porter helps volun...

Until 3:30pm, those visiting the newly opened city farm will have the change to feed pigs, sheep and goats as well as take some newly arrived alpacas for a stroll.

There will be face painting and a henna tattooist on hand as well as entertainment including tombola, music and a photobooth to commemorate the occasion.

LOVE Learning, the education and social care charity which took over the site in January after it fell into liquidation in November 2019, has also organised a community consultation event running from 12pm until 2pm where visitors can tell the new owners about their hopes for the future of the farm.

The Farm will be opened earlier than expected thanks to the assistance of hundreds of volunteers who assisted in the two weeks running up to the reopening.

After the site opens its doors to the public it will remain open seven days a week and will be free for visitors.

LOVE Learning intends to keep using the site as a city farm as part of their portfolio of environmental projects.

In addition, LOVE Gorgie Farm provides educational services to children through animal and forest therapy.

It also provides a range of professional apprenticeships and Scottish Qualifications Authority awarded qualifications, as well as looking to be involved in organising social prescribing and wellbeing therapies in partnership with the NHS in the future.

Lynn Bell, CEO of LOVE Learning said: “We are incredibly excited to be opening LOVE Gorgie Farm much earlier than we anticipated and we are hoping for a great turnout on Saturday.

“This will also provide the chance through our consultation exercise for the local community to provide its views on what people would like to see the farm used for in the future.

“I would like to thank the hundreds of volunteers who have given up their valuable time to help get the farm up and running earlier than anticipated. We could not have done it without their crucial role.”

Sandy McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Detective Agency and 44 Scotland Street books, among others, said: “I am aware of the major role that Gorgie City Farm, now LOVE Gorgie Farm, plays in the local community.

"It is wonderful news that it has been rescued. It brings animals and the countryside into the lives of so many children, young people and adults, who might otherwise feel cut off from such things. Put simply, LOVE Gorgie Farm does a great deal of good.”

LOVE Gorgie Farm also has a food bank and social enterprise café, which helps it to engage further with the community.