Tickwood Care Farm is a small charity set in the heart of the Shropshire countryside. We use our forest schools, farm, commercial kitchens, walled and sensory gardens to enable our young people cope with physical and mental disabilities and face educational and welfare issues. We also have a log cabin providing short breaks to the whole family helping parent/carers to continue with the challenging task of raising a disabled child.

All this is done on a voluntary basis. The estate gives both the land and its staff to us free of charge. We are assisted by a small band of dedicated volunteers who give up their time and expertise for example renovating the Nissan Hut, creating our website and writing funding bids.

Our young people are particularly vulnerable and need a future beyond school. The first step is often independent living skills and that first scary night away from Mum and Dad.

On site, we have a renovated WW11 Nissan Hut which we want to equip as a training and outward-bound centre. Here we will offer programmes to inspire and motivate our young people, taking place in the natural environment, away from distractions or modern amenities. Participants will learn a deep appreciation of the balance between risk, reward and responsibility and leave us with transferrable, essential life skills.

The space will be very flexible. During term time, the unit will be used for training, in a range of practical skills and for groups of young people sleeping overnight, experiencing life in the "wild" and develop their independent living skills. For the majority, this will be their first experience of being away from home. The unit will provide opportunities for our young people post 18 to take accredited qualifications for example in hospitality through visitor management, leading on to employment opportunities

At weekends and school holiday families will be able to experience short holidays, our log cabin is vastly over subscribed and can only sleep four. Our young people often come from extended families and we need to sleep families of eight.

Your funding will replace the cold rough concrete floor with a wooden floor that will be warm and safe for our physically disabled children.

The Nissan Hut was in a sorry state when we started.

We started to rebuild and put in new timbers

Today it has come a long way - we just need the floor please!

Find out more about us at our website