Falconhurst Farm, Kent - Travel Journal
Every time a customer books one of our holidays and opts in to our Trip for a Trip scheme, we organise a day trip for a disadvantaged young person somewhere around the world to see their local tourist sites, often for the first time.
68 children from two inner city primary schools in Hackney, London visited Falconhurst farm in Kent on three trips on 14-16 October 2025.
A typical day:
The Garden Classroom is a charity dedicated to reconnecting people with nature. These outings take classes of school children from London to visit a farm and woodland in Kent. For many children, this trip will have been one of their first experiences of the countryside.Children and their teachers and parent helpers took a 50-minute train from London Bridge to Cowden, where they met The Garden Classroom team, and donned wellies, waterproof trousers and jackets borrowed from the charity for the day. First on the agenda: a guided 30-minute walk through ancient woodland to the farm, where they could check out the autumn leaves, and spot any autumnal fungi poking out.
Next, children got stuck in to farm life, taking part in activities exploring where our food comes from. In the market garden they harvested vegetables, picked apples and helped with weeding and watering. They fed the farm animals, and they took part in a fun blindfold taste tests of locally-produced apple juice and cheese.
There was plenty of time to play in the woodland, too, and to spot wildlife, before returning their (now rather muddy) wellies and waterproofs to The Garden Classroom and walking back to the train station. They took back vegetables from the farm for their harvest display.
“The trips this term have been great successes,” says Millie from the Garden Classroom. “We had lots of positive feedback from children, teachers and parents about how much they enjoyed the day.”
She explained how the funding from Responsible Travel covered the cost of gardening gloves, wellies and waterproofs and launderette costs to wash waterproofs after a muddy day on the farm. Funding also covered hiring the barn space and a vehicle, supplying the children with local snacks, and vegetables to take back to school for their harvest display. It also paid for two TGC facilitators, plus volunteer expenses for one TGC volunteer, for each class.
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"It is great to see them learning about nature and becoming more confident.” – Teacher
“Thank you so much to Responsible Travel for your generosity and for supporting this important project to enable urban children to access nature and learn about food,” – The Garden Classroom
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About our partner organisation:
This Trip for a Trip was organised in conjunction with The Garden Classroom, a charity which provides urban children and adults with outdoor experiences and opportunities to connect with nature.Other trips that we have run with the Garden Classroom:
113 children from inner city schools in London visited Falconhurst farm in Kent.
A Year Six class from Islington on the 7 October, and two Year Four classes from Hackney, on the 14 and 15 October visited a farm and woodland in Cowden, Kent.
108 children from inner city schools in Camden and Hackney, London visited The Quadrangle in Shoreham, Kent along with a total of 12 school staff, 5 parents, and 5 volunteers on 27th-30th March 2023.
More about Trip for a Trip
With our Trip for a Trip scheme every customer who books with us can give an inspiring day trip to a child from a disadvantaged background. Since we started we’ve made a positive difference to over 5,000 children’s lives.- Read more about Trip for a Trip and other trips we've run.
- If you've booked a holiday via Responsible Travel, claim your booking gift to join our Trip for a Trip scheme.
