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← The Country Trust

2023-12-31-accounts

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Connecting children with the land that sustains us all

Annual Report & Accounts 2023

President: The Duke of Westminster

Vice Presidents:

Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher Bt Sir Nicholas Bacon Bt

V Beaumont (appointed September 2023) Lord Boswell of Aynho DL

W Butterfield

Earl of Carnarvon

J M Carr-Ellison

J Knappett B Ed NPQH Lord Dear QPM T. Fanshawe

W J Henderson DL

M Kendall

W Kendall DL

D Laing MA RIBA (deceased March 2024) Hon. John Leigh-Pemberton G Long MBE (appointed September 2023) Hon G E Lopes

L V Lyle MA PGCE

M Maclay DL

H Mills DL (appointed September 2023) H R Oliver-Bellasis FRAgS Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE

E P Serjeant (stepped down December 2023)

J Serjeant BA (Hons) ACA

I N Tegner CA FRSA F Weston MA (Cantab)

Chief Executive:

J D Attenborough MA (Cantab) FRSA

Registered address:

Moulsham Mill, Parkway, Chelmsford CM2 7PX Tel: 01245 961049

Ambassadors: (appointed 2023)

S Green

N Partheeban BVM&S BSc (Hons) PGCert (DHH) PIAGrM R.Ani.Tech. FRSA MRCVS

A Pawsey J Pawsey

Trustees:

The Trustees who served the charity during the year were as follows:

S D Bell BA (Hons) (Chairman)

M A Bufton-McCoy B Phil, Cert Ed T C M Fawcett BSc (Hons) S Fish BA (Hons) PGCE

R J Frossell (stepped down September 2023)

M Gent

K Kaur BSc(Hons) GTP (QTS) MA NPQH

N Partheeban BVM&S BSc(Hons) PGCert (DHH) PIAGrM R.Ani. Tech. FRSA MRCVS (stepped down September 2023) A J Stafford MA (Oxon)

Bankers:

CAF Bank Ltd. 25 Kings Hill Ave, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19

Auditors:

Edmund Carr. LLP 146 New London Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 0AW

Lawyers:

Wrigleys Solicitors LLP 19 Cookridge Street, Leeds LS2 3AG

The Country Trust is the leading national educational charity that connects children from areas of high social and economic disadvantage with the land that sustains us all.

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Country Trust – Trustees’ Report 2023

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During the 2023 academic year:

We connected over 70,100 children with the land that sustains us all, across our Farm, Residential, Food Discovery and Farm in a Box programmes and our Soil Health Campaign.

22,966 children participated in our face-to-face programmes and 26,726 in our Farm in a Box programme, providing over 246,400 hours of engagement in all, the majority of which was provided free of charge. In addition, we estimate that 21,000 people took part in the pilot of our innovative Plant Your Pants Soil Health Campaign.

We introduced Farm in a Bag as a ‘light’ version of Farm in a Box building the confidence, curiosity and sense of connection of 2,864 children through sensory activities and video content before 136 Farm Discovery visits. This was thanks to funding from Farming in Protected Landscapes.

We developed Residential in a Box with the support of the Ernest Cook Trust/ Dulverton Trust OWL collaboration to support Outdoor Learning Centres to better prepare and support children, parents and teachers from disadvantaged communities for their residential and to increase their engagement, and also to support our own residential visits.

We completed the second year of our 5 Year Plan, and revised our Theory of Change to incorporate learning from our evaluation and to better reflect the needs of the children we serve and the world in which we operate.

Theory of Change

Poverty is deepening in the UK and we felt it was important to include the following line when we revised our Theory of Change.

There is a widespread lack of understanding, even a disbelief of the day-to-day reality, of the most disadvantaged in our community, and how poverty impacts access to good food, green space, the natural world, and opportunity, which in turn affects diet, health, the ability to participate and the ability to thrive.

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Engagement with learning

Enhancing curriculum teaching

99% of teachers said that they observed that all or most of their children were excited to talk to each other about what they were learning and doing.

87% of teachers are now bringing elements of farming and the visit into their classroom teaching

83% of teachers are using the natural world in their teaching more often following on from their visit.

95% of teachers reported that all or most of their children had talked about or referred to their farm visit after the visit.

Cultural capital; aspirations/ possibilities (broader development)

94% of pupils said that they had done something for the first time during their visit.

92% of children said that they would like to find out more about farming.

Language and literacy, relationships

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We’ve been able to see our children behaving differently in this environment – social skills, exploring and investigating.

Children were using new vocabulary in their play after engaging with hands on experiences.

Zoe Miller, Wellhome Academy

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Country Trust Annual Report 2023

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Farm Discovery Day-visits to working farms for school and community groups. These are led by our Coordinators who work with host farmers and teachers/group leaders to ensure a safe visit with appropriate sensory experiences and hands-on activities. Provided free of charge.

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Food Discovery

A Country Trust Coordinator takes a class on a journey through food: growing vegetables, preparing and cooking meals, tasting produce, visiting local farms, running their own markets, and experiencing the joy of sharing a feast. The depth of the programme gives children the time to explore many aspects of food. Schools make a contribution if they can.

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Countryside Residentials Immersing children in the countryside for 2-4 days, Coordinators organise and support a tailored programme, including a farm visit, working with teachers and third party providers to ensure a memorable, safe, and happy time away from home. We provide a subsidy of at least a third.

Farm in a Box

A box of hands-on, sensory farm-centred activities plus video content created on a theme by The Country Trust, ordered and presented by teachers in eligible schools. Centrally packed and distributed and provided free of charge.

Sustaining Impact

Supporting teachers to be the gateway to opportunity for children and sustain the impact of our programmes through: a new ‘seeds to supper’ digital offer for REAch2 Multi Academy Trust; CPD for some schools; and through modelling by and conversation with our Coordinators. Provided free of charge.

Residential in a Box

A digital/physical resource to support Outdoor Learning Centres to better prepare and support children, parents and teachers from disadvantaged communities for their residential and to increase their engagement. Provided free of charge.

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Plant Your Pants Soil Health campaign

Our first public facing campaign designed to enable people of all ages to discover the wonderful and vital life of the soil. Planting cotton pants and digging them up 8 weeks later is a fun and engaging way to make the invisible life of the soil visible. Provided free of charge.

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Farm in a Bag
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5 sensory activity cards with matching hands-on resources from the farm, a presentation about the farm and a welcome video from the farmer. Given to the teacher at the pre-visit to use before the visit and then returned at the visit ready to be reused. Provided free of charge.

Core Values:

We believe you grow by learning from others

We think the quality of our connections with others has an important effect on who we can be and what we can do

We are active participants in a world which inspires and sustains us

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Aspirational values:

We want everyone to know that their contribution is welcome and valued

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We aspire to be child-centred, no matter what our role is

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An overview of funding at the end of December 2023

Cash at the bank broadly represents unrestricted reserves, held in accordance with the charity’s policy of aiming for three months’ operating reserves, a small amount of restricted reserves, and deferred income – income received in 2023 in respect of activities taking place after the year end.

Activities

How the Charity’s activities deliver public benefit

In setting our programme each year we have regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. The Trustees always ensure that the programmes we undertake are in line with our charitable objectives and aims. Our ambitious aims are that:

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We want our team and our programmes to better reflect the diversity of the children and the communities we serve and continue to take steps towards this.

We have worked hard to try and promote recruitment opportunities through a wide range of networks and continue to explore when and how we can support people to join us who may not have the formal qualifications or experience that we have required in the past.

Our Board continues to be reasonably diverse in terms of age, gender and ethnicity and we are excited about the connections, creativity and inspiration that this is unlocking.

Our focus being on those children with the most limited opportunities.

We use an evaluation framework, based on our Theory of Change, to gather feedback on all the activities we offer. We collate and analyse all feedback and this then informs our programme design. This year we interviewed children one and two years after their Food Discovery programme and introduced a new survey for teachers two weeks after their Farm Discovery visit.

Feedback from children, teachers and parents suggests that the Trust is achieving its goal of helping to improve the life chances of the children who take part in our programmes. We are in the unique position of being able to provide programmes which support teachers to engage children with learning and support physical, emotional and social wellbeing.

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We can build food knowledge and food confidence, provide access to food and farming related climate learning and enable children to discover that they can be active participants. We can create connections between pupils, farmers and the natural world. We can speak up on relevant education, agriculture and food issues, taking the lead or supporting others.

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How we work

All our programmes are designed to create moments that provoke curiosity, making learning irresistible. Children learn most deeply when they are following their natural curiosity as it places them at the centre of their learning.

Giving children time, space and the tools to understand the world around them – whether it’s in their school grounds, on a farm or at the beach – allows children to discover for themselves the wonder and connectedness of life.

As so many of the children we work with have limited experiences, we ensure that new experiences are crafted carefully and consciously into our programmes, building confidence and happy memories.

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Indicies of Multiple Deprivation Map (2019) Where we worked across all programmes Source: mapmaker.cdrc.ac.uk/ September 2022 - August 2023

Who we support

We work with children who experience disadvantage through:

These children may rarely travel outside their immediate community and therefore may have limited access to quality green space and the countryside.

They may have limited access to good, healthy and varied food;

They may have little or no opportunity to grow things, have contact with animals, pursue hobbies or take part in cultural or sporting activities;

They are more likely to miss out on opportunities to meet positive adult role models, to be inspired and pursue ambitions.

Poverty of opportunity and experience from an early age can negatively impact health, wellbeing and access to education. This then affects a children’s ability to achieve success in adult life.

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Our operating context

Climate Change and farming

At COP28 in December 2023 the central importance of what we grow and eat was finally recognised as being key to a sustainable future.

At the Sustain Annual Conference in December 2023 Lord Deben said:

We need to concentrate all our efforts in explaining that the future of food is either sustainable or there isn’t one. We have to do it if we are going to go on having harvests. We have to do it if we are going to fight against obesity and the illness that comes with it. We have to do it if we are going to have resilient agriculture.

Nature is an integrated business. We can’t do without biodiversity and diversity. It makes the countryside beautiful, but it also enables us to have harvest after harvest. if we go on as we are there will be no more harvests. if we go on as we are, we will not be able to feed ourselves. We need to recover an attitude to the soil that is of respect.

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Thousands of children start school each year without basic skills, the disadvantage gap is growing, and education at every level is experiencing a chronic recruitment and retention challenge.

In response we have

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Where we work

Our Farm, Food and Residential Coordinators are located across England and North Wales delivering hands-on, real-world food and farm experiences.

During 2023 our team decreased in size slightly but as more of the team are now quite well established in their areas this has not prevented growth. A large number of repeat bookings and extra demand for our programmes has led to an increase in the number of children visiting farms and accessing Food Discovery. This is long awaited, hard won and much needed (by schools) growth.

Our operating context continues to be impacted by budget cuts in schools, staff shortages and ill health and the cost of living crisis impacted everyone. Our Coordinators are self-employed and the role is parttime and seasonal and some of our delivery team have had to seek greater financial security in employed roles elsewhere.

Our Farm in a Box National Programme and our Soil Health campaign enable us to reach schools located in the country’s most deprived areas where we don’t yet have a presence on the ground.

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Activities, achievements, performance and public benefit

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OUR REACH – 2023 ACADEMIC YEAR We connected over 70,100 children with the land, across our Farm, Residential, Food Discovery and Farm in a Box programmes and our Soil Health Campaign.

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22,966 children participated in our face to face programmes and 26,276 in our Farm in a Box programme providing over 246,400 hours of engagement. In addition, we estimate that 21,000 people took part in our new Plant Your Pants Soil Health Campaign. We introduced Farm in a Bag as a ‘light’ version of Farm in a Box building the confidence, curiosity and sense of connection of 2,864 children through sensory activities and video content before 136 Farm Discovery visits thanks to funding from Farming in Protected Landscapes.

Farm visits 91,864 hours – assumes 22,966 children spent 4 hours on a farm. Includes Residential and Food Discovery children Farm in a Box – 105,104 hours – assumes 26,276 children spent 4 hours on activities. Some will have spent longer but some teachers may not have fully utilised their Box Residential – 21,276 hours – assumes 591 children spent 3 x 12 hour days participating Food Discovery – 28,160 hours - assumes 1,760 children spent 16 hours on the programme during the year.

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We are particularly proud of the evidence of teachers changing their practice as a result of their increased confidence and connection with food and farming following their time with us, and the positive impact they have seen our programmes have on their children.

Impact on children – Farm Discovery

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Impact on teachers – Farm Discovery

This was a day of firsts for many of the children who live in a very urban area close to school and often do not venture far outside of this area. Many had never visited the countryside and were surprised by how many fields were contained in one farm and how far they could see across the fields.

Session report

I enjoyed learning that nature has natural treasures, so you don’t have to have money to see nice things.

Child

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The impact of the pandemic on school life means that in 2023 many teachers (and children, and their parents) had little or no experience of school visits before coming on a Country Trust visit.

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We have worked very hard to provide additional support and understanding and are proud of the following statistics.

Quality – Farm Discovery

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appropriateness and relevance of the activities for their pupils as 5 or 6 out of 6

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Case Study: Grangetown Primary

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Stephen Jackson, deputy head at Grangetown Primary, explains why they decided to send nearly all their year groups on Farm Discovery visits last year. “Our school is in an area of high deprivation of around 80% pupil premium, one of the highest in the country. Life experiences and the future opportunities are the main two areas that we were always focusing on - our children can live in a bubble and there’s not much else out there - that’s been the biggest eye opener since coming out of COVID in particular.

When our CT Coordinator sent all the details of farm visits we just jumped onboard because we want to give our children any opportunities and experiences. We’ve sent our years 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6s. The feedback has been incredible from the farmers, the people who run the visits, and from teachers coming back.

For our children to be going to these real working farms has been unbelievable. Not only the life experiences, but also future opportunities for the children that they may not have even considered themselves, careers in this area that they may have. I think our SEND children have really enjoyed the visits too because of the sensory elements and the practicality of it all.

All the teachers went on pre-visits, and you know how successful these visits were going to be because the teachers came back so enthused, so invigorated by what was going on. And obviously [they feed into] our science sessions and things. We’ve got those lived experiences now of what we’re teaching, and we can always relate to those.

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We’ve got the practical life experiences, we’ve had writing opportunities based on the farm visits for the children’s creative writing, retelling what happened. That’s really supported the teachers. And I don’t think many of the teachers have really been on working farms, so they’ve gained an experience that they can share with future classes. And the more we go on, then it’s only going to get better because they can plan in more.”

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Impact on pupils - Food Discovery

The whole project has been extremely inclusive regardless of language, ability or learning needs and EVERY child has taken something positive from this!

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Impact on teachers - Food Discovery

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Teacher

A child with ASD and cerebral palsy has benefitted from the sessions. With the hands-on activities, he has been able to engage on the same level as any other child in the class. The sessions have also benefitted pupils with behavioural issues who have been very engaged and offered them a different way to learn.

Teacher

Plants are a bit like humans they almost need the same things to grow. I’m excited to watch my plants grow.

Child - reported speech from Coordinator end of growing session report

We planted some peas and one girl asked, very thoughtfully, “But how do you get more peas from that pea?” I asked if anyone else could explain and another girl said: “You get a thing on the plant, that’s like a suitcase, and inside that are the peas”.

From Coordinator end of gardening session report

I felt proud when I tried new food because I never tried tomatoes because I thought they were bad but they are a bit tangy but still good.

Pupil

One child had removed their gloves and was elbow deep in the bag of top soil. When asked what they enjoyed or learnt he said: “Getting muddy hands, it felt really nice, I’ve never done that before”.

From Coordinator end of gardening session report

An EAL child began talking to other children during the gardening sessions, whereas before they had been reluctant to.

Teacher

One child who doesn’t have many opportunities at home to grow or cook food. He has never experienced a farm before (like many children in the class) and thrived during food discovery lessons. He often struggles with learning and it was lovely to see his confidence.

Teacher

One child has less tantrums when we have wet play as he knows why rain is so important to farmers and animals, another child has found he enjoys gardening and that it helps him to relax and not think of stressful things.

Teacher

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Impact on parents and the community – Food Discovery

Food is such an important part of life. It brings people together as well as celebrates our cultural differences. Our schools serve communities of people who have migrated to London from all over the world. Sharing our experiences of cooking and eating is such a lovely way for us to embrace our diversity.

The majority of our children do not speak English as a first language and many of our pupils have additional needs; experiential learning opportunities such as cooking, gardening, shopping and selling provide wonderful real-life contexts for developing language skills and teamwork.

Assistant Headteacher

Children engaged well with the social aspect of speaking to adults. It was a great way for us to interact with our parents which is something we are working hard on improving.

Teacher

Case Study: Food Discovery Longer term impact

“

At Holy Trinity Catholic Primary, we carried out interviews with pupils who had taken part in Food Discovery one year ago to learn more about how Food Discovery had continued to impact their relationship with food:

“I loved the time when we grew stuff in school because I’d never done it before. Our garden has all pavements, so we didn’t grow anything. I have a disability sometimes that makes me use a wheelchair. It annoys me and gets me down but when I was growing food, it made me feel stronger, like in my mind and my body. I loved it. We have some pots that we grow a bit of salad and some herbs in now, but I’d love to grow more stuff because I like how it makes me feel. Maybe I’ll have my own garden one day to grow my own food that I like to eat.”

“I remember when we made a salad with the Country Trust, I took it home and had the recipe and we had it for our tea. My dad even ate it, and he doesn’t normally eat different food. He loved it. I made it again and I showed my whole family how to make it and we were talking about what we can add to it to make it even nicer.

Child P – Year 5

Me and my dad cook together now. It’s mad because before, when I wasn’t at school, I liked to watch the footy or listen to music in my room. When we go shopping for food, we look at more fresh stuff and talk about what we could make with it. We made scrambled eggs with onions and green herbs the other day. It didn’t work the first time but the second time, it was boss! I like cooking. So does my dad, now.”

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Child A – Year 5

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Teachers are crucial gateways to opportunity for disadvantaged children and we have been thinking hard over the last few years as to how to extend our reach, and offer more of what we know and do to more teachers.

Farm in a Box has proved to be a very successful innovation and in 2023 we drew on our 10 years of experience with Food Discovery to create a support framework and resources to support REAch2 Multi Academy Trust in delivering their ‘Seeds to Supper’ promise for pupils across their 60 primary schools.

Discovering Food from Seeds

to Supper was aimed at building teachers’ confidence and saving them time, channelling their attention to exactly what they need to succeed. We also highlighted ways the curriculum could be explored through food whilst bringing some extra fun... and a bit of dirt, into the classroom!

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A total of 57 school staff subscribed from 53 different schools

to receive a classroom wall planner and stickers and pea seeds to grow, and three digital handbooks sent via email throughout the year, along with video resources and a Twitter feed sharing opportunities and resources from other organisations.

Communication was the biggest

challenge throughout the project: ensuring that information reached the right people, at the right time and that school staff would have time to digest the information.

We are now taking the learning from this programme to adapt the resources for wider use and to inform work with the Co-op Academies Trust, the aim being that teachers will engage with materials as part of their subject planning rather than as an additional project.

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The difference we make (responses were gathered from teacher surveys and interviews)

Background:

In September 2021, Ofsted published a new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Statutory Framework and Ofsted inspection framework with strong emphasis on widening experiences and learning about the diverse world.

In 2022/23 our Farm in a Box (FIAB) was for Early Years children. It was a box full of resources and activities enabling children to discover the diverse world of food and farming through sensory play and investigation, and seeing real farmers, their stories and crops. 995 EYFIAB (Early Years Farm in a Box) were ordered and delivered in the autumn 2022 to 750 settings; 393 boxes were ordered and delivered in the spring of 2023 to 308 settings: school and other early years settings.

The youngest children in our society have been drastically affected by Covid19. Language and communication development have been adversely impacted as have personal, social, emotional and physical development, with those in the poorest households having suffered the most. Children from deprived backgrounds often lack opportunities and access to different toys, resources and experiences.

Early Years Farm in a Box provided fun resources which were developed to be used in a structured way in the safe and encouraging setting of a school or nursery. The resources in the Box were designed to be reuseable, and to be a continuing source of ideas, inspiration and confidence for teachers. Where we have previously only delivered FIAB to schools, EYFIAB provided the opportunity to cast the net wider and work with other Early Years settings like nurseries.

Working with Delivery Partners (local authority and charity contacts in Essex and Greater Manchester) we were able to target a proportion of the boxes to non-school settings who tend to be off the radar when it comes to provision.

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Impact on Children:

Impact on teachers:

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It wasn’t a stated aim of Farm in a Box, and most Boxes were targeted to areas where we didn’t have a presence on the ground, but some Boxes did lead to schools booking Farm Discovery visits for their children. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) children are very young to be going on farm visits and these are children whose life experiences are often limited. However, with the support of FIAB, one teacher noted,

Many teachers have reported that the resources were used repeatedly, and not just in a Farm in a Box (FIAB) context. Having designed the resources to be reused it was gratifying to get feedback like this (taken from interviews):

We’ve got those activity cards now and we laminated extra bits that came in the farm in the box. So they’ve got a bit of longevity in them and we’ll definitely plan that in again for next year, obviously without you sending us resources, and we’ll do a similar day.

We've kept everything with the view of doing it again in the autumn [next year] and learning from what we've done this time round to help us provide even better than what we did from our first run.

So other than anything that's perishable, we have kept everything to make sure that we've got everything there that we need and we would then just buy whatever it would be in terms of food bits or whatnot to supplement what we needed. So we found because of the way that you had provided the boxes, it's ideal to be kept and reused.

I think we would be braver in terms of saying OK, perhaps we need to do it over 2 days and not try and shoehorn so much in in one go to try and make sure we get that real quality out of it and give that to give the children that time to really explore and learn and understand.

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I think by getting [the visit] in earlier, the children take it more as ‘this is normal, this is within my normal realms of experience’ and it by giving them that knowledge from an earlier age, they can then start to draw on that knowledge so soon as they go into year one and they’re doing something to do with farm animals or whatever, straight away they can link back to, oh, I’ve already done some learning about that and when they’ve had those first hand experiences, particularly going on a visit, that’s what they remember.

And so they’re not going from a point of knowing nothing, they’re already starting to build upon what they’ve already learnt and I think that then puts them in a stronger position for moving their learning on further because they’ve already got something in the bank.

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Children

We also delivered 143 Farm in a Box Locals (FIAB Local) during 2022-23

The programme makes use of real resources from real farms with ready-made activities for teachers to use. Each Box is prepared individually by our Farm Discovery Coordinator for a particular class and teacher and relates to a specific farm.

Whilst getting children out on to farms remains a high priority for the Farm Discovery teams, current issues in education during the year meant that this was often challenging, and Farm in a Box Local remained a viable option for many schools, and was also a way of preparing pupils for the world of the farm, as a box of resources and activities are provided to the school for the teacher to use at their convenience.

Budgetary constraints and staffing issues are two major concerns for schools both of which affect their ability to take children out on educational visits. Farm in a Box Local enabled pupils to experience something of the world of farming without the cost of travel and the staff:pupil ratios necessary for an external outing. The Local Box also supported teachers in a bespoke way, as Coordinators planned the contents within the box with the teacher.

The difference we make

Teachers

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Countryside Discovery Residentials

They all had an amazing time. Judging by the comments I heard, this experience will stay with them forever.

Mayville Primary Year 6 Teacher June 2023

The difference we make (analysis of feedback from 6 residentials and 3 run as a series of day visits)

Impact on children:

10% of responses in the children’s pre-residential questionnaire said they were least looking forward to things to do with nature: muddy puddles, seeing bugs, crabs, spiders, fields. The residentials have activities built into them which allow children to explore the natural world, specifically to support children’s confidence of how to interact.

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A few children were brave holding the crabs despite being afraid initially and were very gentle in handling. Lots of curiosity in understanding them and their anatomy.

They absolutely loved the sensory element of touching the wheat grains during the farm visit.

Impact on teachers:

We had such a fantastic time on this residential…They gained such an independence and freedom over the 4 days that they were in Suffolk and they built memories that they’ll take with them on in their journeys. Hopefully this experience will ensure they want to continue to get out there and explore the natural world.

Solebay Primary Academy Year 6 Teacher, June 2023

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New developments

Under the ‘Diversification’ pillar of our 5 Year Plan we launched our Plant Your Pants Soil Health Campaign.

Soil is a precious resource and yet it is being lost or degraded across the world. It is critical for life: as well as producing 95% of our food, good soil purifies water, mitigates flooding, combats drought, stores carbon and is even a source of new medicines. According to a Childwise survey, 27% of primary school children have never or hardly ever played or dug in soil.

We wanted to find a way to enable children to make that first fundamental connection with the land that sustains us – getting their hands in the soil and discovering the life within it. We asked families, schools, nurseries and farmers across the UK to bury a pair of cotton pants for a few months, and together, explore the world beneath our feet.

Plant Your Pants (PYP) 2023 Highlights:

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I will remember planting our pants. Digging in the fields and finding so many worms. Looking at how soil is made up by collecting some and shaking it up with water.

Child

During discussions about the importance of soil to farmers, the effect of the weather on the soil, the children quickly linked together how everything fits as a part of the whole and said that if the words did not make holes in the soil, when it rains there would be flooding.

Coordinator session report

I didn’t see soil as a living thing…I saw soil as something that something grows in and that worms live in. Yeah, but I didn’t appreciate how alive the actual soil is with all of the microorganisms. And having seen a pair of cotton pants completely disappear, [it’s mind blowing].

Mrs Turner, Morlands Primary

What next: We took on a lot for our pilot year! But we learnt a great deal, and while feedback was great, there wasn’t as much of it as we would have liked. So, in 2024 we have three aims:

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Our priorities:

Our policy work

Our Vision

Food, Farming and Countryside opportunities and experiences are available to ALL children, especially persistently disadvantaged children.

Why?

The human race is dependent on the natural world for survival. However, there is no consistent provision (resource or structure) for every child to discover the land that sustains us all and to explore first-hand the fundamental connection between the way we live, our own health and the health of the planet. Therefore, children, particularly the most disadvantaged, are ill-equipped to grow to actively contribute to, and benefit from, a thriving society and planet (as identified in our Theory of Change)

To achieve our vision, we will work with policy makers to help ensure:

At a time of fundamental change in our agricultural support system (post Brexit) to ensure that as many farmers as possible are supported to welcome children to their farms.

Status: Educational Access payments (Ed1) are now included in Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship and CS+. We have also been successful in raising awareness of Ed1, and in enabling farmers to add Ed1 retrospectively to their CS agreements. Inclusion of Ed1 in the Sustainable Farming Incentive is our next objective.

To ensure that the importance of firsthand experience of food and farming is included in all relevant new government strategies and policies.

Status: Firsthand experience has been absent from all new relevant government strategies and policies. We continue to raise our voice about this. We are part of the Fair Education Alliance, The Food Education Network, Sustain, the Outdoors for All Working group, the Nature Premium Steering Group and the Access to Farms Network.

To ensure that food and farming experiences are included within ‘cultural capital’.

Status: Teachers are starting to talk about Country Trust programmes in this way and occasionally our involvement is mentioned in an Ofsted report. We have more work to do to gather and present evidence.

How?

We will demonstrate the difference food and farm opportunities and experiences make especially for the most disadvantaged children – helping to join the dots between government departments, especially health, education and agriculture.

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A HUGE thank you for…a fantastic trip to the farm for our school. It was run excellently and the communication running up to it was very good. The children were all engaged, activities good for the cohort and perfect for our children’s needs. Thank you also for the pre-visit - this made a big difference. It was an excellent visit for our children’s cultural capital.

Matt Barker, The Stable School

Our ambition is to establish food, farming, and countryside opportunities as part of a fair education for all children, ensuring no child’s future is limited by their socio-economic background. That’s why we support the call for a Nature Premium, as a government funded, statutory requirement for schools to take children regularly into nature. And it’s why we play an active role in the Fair Education Alliance.

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Strategic direction

Our 5 Year Plan

The need and demand for our work continues to grow significantly. Our five-year strategy is underpinned by our Theory of Change and centres around our ambition to greatly increase the number of children who have access to meaningful food, farming and land centred opportunities and experiences.

The 5 pillars of the Plan are:

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2024 will be year 3 of our 5 Year Plan and another step towards our ambition to bring food, farming and countryside experiences to 120,000 children from disadvantaged backgrounds each year by 2027.

Our aims:

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Country Trust Annual Report 2023

Strategic direction

Residentials

There have been closures across the country of residential centres/outdoor learning centres as a result of Covid. We had an exciting plan for a new, low cost but high quality residential in Suffolk based at the Blaxhall YHA and focused on a farm but had to abandon the plan when the Youth Hostel Asociation (YHA) suddenly announced they were selling Blaxhall.

Having ended our association with Hautbois House Centre in Norfolk, all our residentials for London schools were then focused on Ringsfield Hall in Suffolk with an increasingly impactful farm and coast based programme. Very sadly, Ringsfield Hall announced its immediate closure in early 2024 bringing 30 years of Country Trust residentials in Suffolk to an end. Plans are now underway for a new residential on the Sussex Downs and we are very grateful to a key funder, the Girdlers Livery Company for their unwavering support amidst so much change.

The schools we serve have found it increasingly difficult to encourage anxious parents to allow children to attend residentials post Covid and adapting to a sudden change of location has proved a step too far for some, this year. We look forward to using Residential in a Box to build confidence in the future.

Working with the Ernest Cook Trust (ECT) we are excited to be developing our first residential programme in Cumbria with a focus on it being a replicable low cost, farm focused (ECT have purchased a farm) residential. The programme will launch in autumn 2024 and our ambition is for it to be co-created with our participants.

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46 Country Trust Annual Report 2023

Fundraising

Income increased by 14.4% and expenditure increased by 2.4% in comparison to 2022 (to £1,379,887 and £1,430,668) The net outcome was as expected though actual figures for both income and expenditure were lower than budgeted. 42% of our income was unrestricted. £443,476 of income received in 2023 was deferred to 2024 because it relates to the planned delivery of activity in the spring and summer terms.

We were pleased to finish the year with a much lower than expected planned deficit as we are now approaching the limit of the reserves which accumulated thanks to large legacies. Despite spending less than we had budgeted and raising slightly less than we had anticipated (though still an increase on 2022), we were able to:

Controls

Financial management consists of monthly management accounts that are distributed to all Trustees for review.

Monthly forecasting enables Trustees to view the financial landscape ahead, along with a mid-year review and detailed consideration in the third quarter prior to preparing the budget for the following year.

CEO or Trustee authorisation is required for all payments; all payments made by the Charity over £5,000 require dual authorisation with an authorised Trustee signatory (raised to £6,000 at the end of 2023). The charity is now required to have an audit as our income is over £1m.

Reserves policy

Trustees operate a RAG approach to assessing reserves with a green zone at around 3 months of operating reserves.

Overall, during 2023, reserves decreased from £582,240 to £531,459, of which unrestricted reserves decreased from £559,034 to £503,211, as a result of a planned use of reserves for our 5 Year Plan.

At the end of 2023 free reserves (total reserves less restricted/designated funds and funds tied up in fixed assets) were calculated as being £497,096 and therefore within the green zone for our RAG approach to assessing reserves when compared with projected operating costs within the 2024 budget (3 months operating costs estimated to be £453,391).

Our aim is for a break-even budget in 2024 but should our monitoring indicate any cause for concern during the year we will take prompt action.

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Fundraising

The Board has adopted the Charity Governance Code and is working through the seven principles to ensure good governance. Legal and ethical fundraising remains a key objective of the Trustees, and they take their responsibilities with regard to proper fundraising practice very seriously.

They are guided by the Charity Commission’s Charity fundraising: a guide to trustee duties (CC20 updated Oct 2022) as well as the Charity Governance Code (updated 2020), and the Guidance Note from the Fundraising Regulator on New Reporting Requirements published October 2018 and updated January 2023, and the Covid fundraising guidance issued during 2021. The Country Trust is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and complies with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

In 2023, approximately 55% of our income came from charitable trusts and foundations, 33.2% from donations including companies, 0.1% from donated services and gifts in kind and 10% from service users, primarily schools in the form of the balance of the cost of residential visits after our subsidy has been applied, or as a contribution from schools towards the cost of Food Discovery programmes.

Donors to The Country Trust can be assured that:

The Charity will comply with requests issued by the Fundraising Preference Service. The Charity strives to maintain GDPR compliance and has registered with the ICO.

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50 Country Trust Annual Report 2023

Principal funding sources

Grant making trusts continue to be the largest source of funding for the Charity, but with a growing number of companies now supporting our work. We continued to sustain a good percentage of funding within multi-year agreements.

We are very grateful indeed for the support received from all our funders, and mention here those who have given permission for their support to be acknowledged in this report;

AGCO Foundation, Aldgate and Allhallows Foundation, Ardian UK and the Ardian Foundation, Barbour Foundation, BASF, British Gypsum, Bruno Schroder Trust, Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust, The CLA Charitable Trust, The Clarkson Foundation, Lance Coates Charitable Trust, Ernest Cook Trust, Darlington Building Society, Doves Farm, Fenwick, Frontier Agriculture UK, George F White, The Girdlers’ Company, The Hadrian Trust, WA Handley Trust, The Hiscox Foundation, A Hume Country Clothing and Outfitters, Impax Asset Management, The Joicey Trust, Sir James Knott Trust, John Lewis Golden Jubilee Trust, The Lund Trust, Lycetts Insurers and Financial Services The Mercers’ Company, Muckle LLP Community Fund, Northumberland Freemasons Charitable Trust, Oxbury Bank, The Rank Foundation, Reece Foundation, Ridley Family Charity, Riverford Organic Foods, The Rothschild Foundation, Royal Society of Chemistry, Rural Solutions, Ryecroft Glenton, The Shears Foundation, The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation, Squires Foundation, Felix Thornley Cobbold Agricultural Trust, Troy Asset Management, Tyne and Wear Community Foundation, Warburtons Ltd, Westminster Foundation, The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Wheler Foundation, Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

Thanks are due to the Charity’s President, Vice Presidents, Ambassadors, Trustees and staff for their support in identifying and making introductions to potential new funding sources.

Transport costs

Requests for transport subsidies continued to rise in 2023 as school budgets and parental income continued to be squeezed.

Over £67,000 of subsidies were given out to support around 290 farm visits – that’s nearly three times the 2022 total - enabling over 7,500 children to access farms. Transport subsidies are offered in addition to providing the Farm Discovery visits free of charge.

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Structure, Governance and Management

Structure

The Country Trust was founded in 1978 and is registered with the Charity Commission under Charity Number 1122103. The Board of Trustees, President, Board of Vice Presidents, Ambassadors, Chief Executive Officer, senior staff members and professional advisers are listed on page 1.

On the 23rd November 2007 The Country Trust was incorporated; it became a company limited by guarantee and not having share capital. On the 1st January 2008, the Charity commenced trading as an incorporated Charity. The Company number is 6436266 and the registered address is shown on page 1.

Governing document

Recruitment and training of Trustees

Trustees are recruited as and when required through advertising, personal recommendation and through the recommendation of third-party advisors according to the Board’s specifications concerning eligibility, personal competence, and specialist skills.

Potential candidates are invited to apply and are interviewed by the Chair and at least one other Trustee. Successful applicants are co-opted to join the Board until their appointment is confirmed.

One Trustee stepped down during the year. One Trustee undertook Trustee training with both Stone King and The Institute of Chartered Accountants. Three Trustees renewed their standard safeguarding training and additional safeguarding training was undertaken by three Trustees.

The Charity is governed by the Memorandum and Articles of Association of The Country Trust Ltd.

Organisational management

Governing Body

The structure of the Charity consists of a Board of Trustees and a Chief Executive supported by a Senior Leadership Team. The Board of Trustees is a self-appointing body and includes a good gender balance and a range of experience.

Several Trustees have direct experience of our services either as teachers or active farmer hosts. Trustees with the relevant experience have particular responsibility for Finance and Safeguarding.

The Chief Executive reports directly to the Chair of Trustees and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Charity. The Charity is very fortunate to be supported by a President, Vice Presidents and Ambassadors who are an advisory, networking and fundraising resource.

The Charity’s Trustees are legally responsible for the overall management and control of the Charity. The Board of Trustees meets at least four times a year to discuss and implement strategic issues, monitor income and expenditure, monitor risk, review and approve policies and approve annual budgets.

The day to day running of the Charity is delegated to the Chief Executive, the Senior Leadership Team, staff and sessional staff, who report to the Board monthly and quarterly.

GDPR

We use our database to extend our compliance with the GDPR regulations – subscription to Newsletters allows for double opt in as well as providing the usual ability to unsubscribe.

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Structure, Governance and Management

Risk management

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the management of risks associated with the activities of the Charity. The Board refers to the Charity’s Risk Register at each meeting which is prepared and updated by the Chief Executive.

The top 6 major risks identified and monitored in 2023 were:

Risk Assessments are prepared by staff and self-employed sessional contractors for all activities led by the Charity. The Charity ensures that all our active host farmers have a Risk Assessment in place for Country Trust visits. These Risk Assessments are prepared, owned and managed by the host farmer but where required, support for the process, including signposting to external industry guidance, is provided by the Charity. The Charity receives the help of professional advisors for risks associated with health and safety, safeguarding and employment practice.

The Board of Trustees also has in place key controls for use by the Charity, such as formal agendas for meetings, comprehensive strategic planning and monthly management accounting, established lines of reporting, formal written policies and a review schedule, clear authorisation levels for all payments and a safeguarding policy which provides guidance for all on best safe practice for adults within an organisation working with children.

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Structure, Governance and Management

Openness and accountability

We strive to involve participants in programme design and the comprehensive feedback gathered from stakeholders during the year is constantly used to inform practice. Our annual evaluation reports are published online and publicised through social media and printed materials.

We continue to be pleased with participation rates in our online pupil surveys sent to teachers after each farm visit. The introduction of a new survey for teachers two weeks after a farm visit has given very encouraging results about the ‘stickiness’ of the impact of the visit. Case studies undertaken with children one and two years after a Food Discovery year proved to be very powerful.

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This is our Position Statement:

The Country Trust connects children with the land that sustains us all. We aim to foster an understanding of farming, food production and countryside management in all its many guises and raise awareness of the way in which we are all participants in agriculture through the food that we eat.

Country Trust visits and activities are structured to support the National Curriculum, personal development and wellbeing. Our carefully planned opportunities and experiences are designed to empower children to be curious, confident and create change in their lives and the world around them so that they and society can thrive.

We do not consider ourselves to be a charity that campaigns for or against any particular form of farming or land management. However:

Our intention is that children will be in a better position to make informed decisions, understanding that their choices matter, and may be influential in the future shape of farming and the countryside.

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Structure, Governance and Management

Cybersecurity

The Country Trust continues to be vigilant with regard to Cybersecurity. All CT staff are required to complete annual training as part of our Cyber insurance obligations.

We continue to use the NCSC’s (National Cyber Security Centre) monitoring tools. Continued vigilance meant that there were no serious issues in 2023.

Safeguarding

Government guidance is clear that all organisations working with children, young people, families, parents and carers have particular responsibilities. At The Country Trust we recognise that the welfare of all children is paramount and that all children, regardless of ability or culture, have equal rights of protection.

We have a duty of care when they are in our charge, and we will do everything we can to provide a safe and caring environment whilst they attend our activities. Our policy for child safeguarding is on our website and is reviewed annually by our Board of Trustees. The Country Trust is a member of SAFEcic, an umbrella organisation providing safeguarding training, advice and standards.

All staff, volunteers and Trustees undertake safeguarding training and undergo DBS checks where this is permitted for their role. Safeguarding is reviewed at the quarterly Board meetings.

There were 9 safeguarding concerns raised within 2023 (8 in 2022 for comparison) including disclosures by children and potential signs of neglect and abuse. There was one instance of bullying by children from another school on a residential which was resolved with the residential partner and schools.

All were followed through in accordance with our Policy. Trustees have continued to keep their safeguarding training up to date and keep abreast of any significant changes.

Health and Safety

Our health and safety policy can be found on our website and is reviewed every two years. Safeguarding, and Health and Safety reports of all disclosures, accidents, incidents and near misses and subsequent actions taken are brought to every Board meeting, preserving the appropriate confidentiality.

Health and Safety briefings are issued to the whole team at key moments in the farming calendar (eg lambing), whenever there is a learning or update to be shared and are integrated into new programmes (eg Residential in a Box). H and S training is made available in written (How to Guides) and video form and engagement is tracked.

Pre-visits to farms are mandatory for schools (with very limited exceptions) in order that proper planning can be undertaken including understanding the particular needs of the children.

The Trustees would like to thank everyone involved with The Country Trust – farmers, teachers, funders, our delivery team, staff, volunteers and everyone who has provided incredible support and encouragement during the last year.

Statement of compliance with prevailing laws and regulations

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in notes to the accounts and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland published in October 2019.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies’ exemption. Approved by the Board of Trustees on:

_____ and signed on its behalf by: _____2 May 2024 S D Bell

Steve Bell, Chair of Trustees.

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Accounts

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The Country Trust The Country Trust llldependent Auditor's Report lo ihe Members of The Country Trust llldependent Auditor's Report to the Members of The Country Trust Opinion on other matter prtstribed by the Comp&nies Att 2006 In i)ur i)pinion, b&%ed the ivi)Tk undertakert irt the Ll)ur%e c)f ihe Judil: the inf(IrtnJiic)n gii'en in the Trustees, Rep(irt linLI)rtK)raiin¥ the DireLtc)ts' RetKirt) flir ihe FiT￿nti#l i f(Trr .hith the frinancial st21emenis are prepared is Lonsisieni ilith the finanLial sthtemenis.. and Ihc Dircctors, ReFrf)rt has bcen prepared in accordancc ivith appliLablL leoal rcquiremenis. Our appn)ach to id¢ntifi"ing and a55e55ing the risks of Tnaterial mi5StateTnent in respect of irregularities. including fraud nOn￿Mpliance M'ith laiys r¢gulati(Ill5. follows.. The enoa?cmcnt partner cnsurcd that the cngagement team Collecti￿¢1>, had the appropriatc competence, capabiliiie5 and skills to identifj. or Tecognise non-cornpliance M'ith applicable lai¥s and regulation5. W¢ focus¢d on specifi¢ lai¥s 4n(I r¢gu14Lions H"hich ¢vn5id¢red mav haie d dir¢Lt tnat¢rial ¢ffeLt on the rinaneial sthiemertis OT the 0￿ratIon￿ lor the compani. including the Companies .4ct 2006, Charities Aei 2011. legislation 2nd dath proieLtion. and emplo)meni legislation. Matt¢rs 0]] which w¢ ar¢ rcquird to report by ¢xr¢ption In the light of our knoi4'l¢dge and understanding of the cornpani. and its ¢ni"ironTnent obtained in the course of th¢ Judil. hti￿e n(Il identified material tnis¥tsternents in the Tru5tees' Rewrt. We haTre rti)thing 10 rewrt in resrELt of the folloiving matters iyhere the Companies Ath 2006 requires us io rcport io N'ou it. in our opinion.. adcquaic accounting rccords have noi kepi, or rctums adequatr for our audit havc noi bcen r£ceii'ed froTN bTanches not V15ited b)" u5: or the financial Statements are not in agreemeni H'ith the accounting record5 and Tetums: or c¢nain disclosures of directors, rernuneration specified bl. lali. are not rnade= OT i¥e have not r¢ceiTred all the infoTmation and explanations ii"e require tor our audit. the trubt¢es %%.e￿ not enliil¢d lo prepare the linancial 5tai¢rn¢nt5 in accordance ii'ith the 5tnall cotnpani¢s regime and tske adi'Jniage i)l-the %m&ll Ll)mpanie8 exemptiOTL% irt Preparing the DireLt()t% RetKirt and fmm Ihc rcquirLmLml 10 prcparL a SiratLgiL Rcport. RtSP0115ibilities of trustees As explaiLed fiLIIN ￿ ihe Stafemfnt of Trn%tee$' RespJosiknlAfLes. the INsttts (V41 ate al80 the thtectors of the chatitable Comp￿1. for the piupo%e$ of compatsi. la14"1 gxe respoLsible for the preparation of the f￿alle￿I staiements and for bethg sa115fied thai thei. eii'e a tsue and fats i'ieii.. Ld ftr Such tLiemal eotstrol as the tru51ee5 deteriiiitte 15 aeceswv lo enable the pwepawition of fMwKial itslg4neot5 that are fre¢ frojn o•tenJl mult4ne￿. Thhelher dpe to fraud OT erTQr. ITC I5￿5ed ihe su5ceplibilit)" of the comp3nN' s financial 5tatem¢nt5 to Tnaterial Tlli55taternent. includin i)btsinin¥ an llndeT5L￿dill¥ (Trf h(ii¥ fraud tnighi (Klur by: Mak'ing enquiries of management as to iNhere they c4)nsidered there ivas susceptibiliry to fraud. their knoii'ledoe o(aaual. suspecie4J and allege4J fraud. Consider¢d the intemal conirols in place to mitigate the risks of fraud and non￿[nplla￿cc ￿1th laws and regulations. To address the risk of fraud through management bias and oi'erride of contro15. Ive.. PerfoTtn¢d ana1jti￿J pr(Kedures to identify. anv unusual OT unexFECted relationships. . TesLd.jtsumal eniries Lts ideniif) unu%ual tsrt%atlions. In reS￿￿n5£ ￿ the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations. li'e designed procedures "hich include(L but iirT¢ not IiTnited to= * Aorceing financial s￿ement disclosurcs ts) undcrliing SUPFX)ning documcntation. Reading the minute5 of meetings of ihose charged ii'ith goi"ernanc¢.. Lnquiring ofmanageTneni as to actual and ￿tentIal liiioation and claiTns. Because of the inherent lirnitatlOn5 of an audTt. there 15 o risk thot i¥ill not dete¢1 oll iTregularitie5, including those leading io a material missthtemeni in the linanLial sthiements or rton-Lompliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that Compliance Mith a laKI" or reoulation is remoi'ed from the eN'ents and transactions Tefleaed in Ihe financial Sta[emen￿ as ￿111 be less liK'el}' to kcome ai4.are of instance5 of non-cotnpliance. "lthe TiSk" 15 3150 greateT TegaTding irregularirie5 oCcu￿l￿g due to fraud 13theT than error, a5 fraud ini'olTres intenLii)nal LX)TiLealtnenL fi)rgerN. LX)Ilusic)n. i)tni%sic)n ()r rni.5r¢presen￿17{)￿. As part i)f an audil in aceoidanLe i%ith ISAS IIJKI. ￿￿e exeTcise pn)fe%sional judgement and maintain professional sc£piicism throughout the audit. We also.. Idcniit% and &sscss ihc risks of maicrial misststcmcni of thc tinancial staicmcnts, ilhcihcr duc io traud or error. design and [ErfO￿ audit procedures restK)nsi%'e to tliose Tisk5. and obtain audit el'idence tliat 15 5UtTicieni and appropTiate kn PTOI"ide a ba515 for our opinioii. I"he risk of not (leteding a tnatti'ial mis%thLement r￿ul1]ng fmm fraud i_4 higher than fi)r c)ne ￿ul(ing fTI)m eTmr. as fraud may ini.olve ¢4llusii)n, torger¥'. inicniional omissions. misrcprcscnthiions. or ihc oi'crridc ot'inicrnal control. ObLqin an undersLqnding of intcmal control relcvant ￿ the audit in ordcr to dcsign audit proccdurcs thai arc appropriate in the CiTcumsthnces. but not for the purpose ot expressing an opinion on the eftectiN'ene55 Ot-the charitable coJnpani s internal control. ENaluate the approprialene55 of arcounting w)Iici¢s used and the rea50nablene5s of accounting e5titnat¢s and relatell di%cli)%ures made bi the tsll%tees. In prcparing Ihc tinancial statements. thc trusiecs are rcsp)nsible tor assessing thc charitable compani's abilits. to Lontinuc as a going concLm. disLlosing. as applicablc. mallLrs rclaicd io goino Lonecrn L2nd using thc ooin concern basis of accounting unless the tru5t¢es either int¢nd to liquidale the charitable compani or to cea operJiii)ns, ()r nth Teali4LiL alternllii￿e hul IÉ) d(1 %0. Auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statement5 Our objcctiNcs arc to obtain rLasonablL assurnncc about i%"hcthLr the tinancial SLqtemenis &s a wlmile arL free trom material misstatemenL w'hether due to fraud or error. and to 155ue an auditor 5 TetK>rt thai includes our opinion. Re<L5(Inable assurance 15 a high leiel of as5uranc¢. but is not a guaTantee ihat an audit o)nducied in aecordance with ISAS IIIKI will ali%ai s deteLt a material missiatemeni %ihen li e_KiSls. Misstatemenis can arise from traud or crror and are considLred material if. indii'iduallN or in the agorcgaic. th￿ eould rcasonabl! expected io influence the economic decisions ot-users taken on the basis ol-lhese linancial SLgLernents. Irregularities. including fraud. are instance5 Ot-non-complianc£ with laws and reoulaiions. ￿ e design Procedures in line w'ith our r¢S￿nSIbl11tlcs. outlined aiKii'e. to detect rnaterial rni55tattmenls In T¢5￿cl of irTegulariti¢ inLluding fTaud. The extertl ti) whiLh our pri)cedure% are l￿P￿ible ()r deteLting lTregul￿1le￿. irtLludint lrnud is detailed bc10￿.. 64 Country Trust Annual Report 2023 65

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S Morell

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2 May 2024

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2 May 2024

S D Bell

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The Country Trust The Country Trust Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Notes to the Financial Statemellts for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Deferredincop t)eferred incvtn¢ repTes¢nLs granls. and sm'ile f¢¢$ r¢L¢ivul in T¢SP¢Lt of i i5i1s 4nd ¥￿li￿ltIes t4kin¥ pl' is limited by guarant¢¢. inr(IrFK)rJl¢d in F.n2land & Wa1¢5. LDnsequ¢ntli" d(r5 lll)t have sharc Lapiial. Each ot ihc trusiL*s is liablc io coniribuie an amouni noi excecding £1 to%i"ards the asS￿S of the charitable cornpanTr in the ei'eni ot liquidation. Donaled5vrvice5 andfacililie5 Where sern ice5 or facilitits are provided to the charitable companv as a donation that ￿OUld noTmall! be purchased from our supplier5. this benefit 15 includ¢d in Lhe finan¢ial stateinenis. at it'5 f4ir i'alut unl¢ss it'5 laiT alu¢ C￿￿1)[ ￿ r¢liknl) rn¢asuT¢(L at th¢ Liisl Iv th¢ d(Inor vr the r¢sal¢ i'ulue vf gw(Is thitt lir¢ to b¢ suld. 2 Accounting policie5 Surnmary of signifi¢ant accounting policies and key accounting estimate5 The principal accounting rolicies applied in the preparation ol- these tinancial siatemenls are set oui beloii". '] he5¢ tx)lici¢s haN'e ir¢n con5l5tenilJ appli￿ io all the !'eaT5 presented: unless Other%iise stated. Inv￿1￿￿11￿¢0ll IniLrcsi receiicd is acL7>unted for then the interest 15 credited on the Bank detM)Sjt accounts. Statement of compliance The linancial siatemenis ha￿e been prepared in accDrdartLe with .4ccauniine and Re￿>rting Chariiies.. Statemcnt ot RccornmLndcd PraLllCC lappliLable to Lhariiics preparino IhLir alcounts in aLcordancL iiiih the Financial Reportinn Standard applicable in the UK and Republic ot-lreland IFRS 10?11 (issued in October ?0191 ICh<lritie5 Sl)RP IFRS 10)11. the FinanciJl R¢pvrting Sirfind(￿d ¢ypliuble in the LK R¢publi¢ of Ir¢lrfind (FR$ 1021 and the Companies ALt 2006. InLOtne fmm tharitshle aeLii'ilie% ari%e% from edlleati()nal Il8lL% and aetikilie% ilhere school% or É)Iher partner% fund all or a prow)rtion olthe CO%L% incurred. Expenditsrt .411 eNFKndiiure is accounted for on an accTuals basis and includes V.41- a5 the charity 15 not VA"l- registered. Goi"emance costs are associated ￿"1th ihe goi"eTnance arrangernent5 of the charity.. Nl'here expenditure 15 aprK)rtioned bet%i'een LhJrithble aLtii ilies and supwrt cosis. Ihis is done based on the portion ihat is appliLable to Ihe direci proi'ision ot. educaiional i'isits and aaiN-ities or ihe adminisiraiion ot- the charity. Tn the case ol- statT C05LS. this is based on the time spent on eharitsble actii"ities or administrdtion. Basis of preparation The Countr). Trust meets the detinition of a public benetit entits under FRS 102. Assets and liabiliiie5 are initiallv recognised at historical c05t or transaction ￿'alue un1¢5s oth¢rnise sthted in th¢ rel¢i"ant accounting p(IliLy n(11¢s. R￿1￿{1{¥￿￿&S These are costs inLUTted in aitrnClirt4 i'oliintary income. the management of investsnenis and those incurred in irading aLtii iiies thai raise funds. oing concern The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties alxiut the charitable compam s abilits. to continue a5 a going concern noT anN' 5ignificani areas of unrenainty" Ihat affect the carTr"ing value of a￿t5 held b!" the ¢haritsbl¢ LUrnpJn￿. Choriluble tTctivities Charitable actiK"ities cornpri5e costs incurred in carrying out educational visits and acti%'itie5 to fann5, e5tate5 and the iiid¢r rounts)"si(le. and in 5rhtK)1s. Incorne and endowments All income is recognised once the eharitable compan%. has eniiilemeni (o the income. it is probable thai the incorn¢ isill be receiied and ihc amount of the incoTll¢ receiNable can be rn&95ur¢d reliabll". G￿￿ernan¢t eosts Thisc inLludL the costs attribllthblc io ihc charitable compan), s compliancc ￿1th constiiutional and statutorv requirements. including audiL Strategic managernent and INstecs meetinos and reimbursed expenses. Donttriokts aNdlegllcies All donated inLI)me and grants reLeii'able are included in income ort receipt e_XLepi il'here the do[￿[ reqiiiTes thai the sum is to b¢ tr¢ai¢d as incomc in tuiure accounting ￿riOdS. in ii'hich case li is dclLrrcd. W'here a donor h&$ specified ihat a donation should be used for a particular purpose this is treated as r¢suictrd incom¢. Taxgtioll The charithble Lompan! is u)nsidered li) pass ihe te%ts sei oul In Paragraph l 8Lhedule 6 of the Finance ALI 2010 and thcretore it mcets ihc detiniiion ot- a charithblc compan) tor LIK corporation tax purposcs. Accordingli.. the chariLgble cornpan!." is potentiall}, exempt from tsxation in respect of income or capital nains receiK"ed iiithin categoTie5 coiered b! C-hapter i Part I l of the Lorporation I"ax Act 2010 01. %ection 2.56 of the Taiati(In (if Charge£ibl¢ Gains A¢1 1992. 10 the extent thot Such inLiirn¢ iir g4ins Jre Jppli¢d ¢x¢lusIi¢l￿ tv charitable purwses. Grtsnts recélwtsblé GrJnLs' Jr¢ r¢¢u)gnis¢d ivhen the LhJrilabl¢ r(1rnp￿V dn ¢nlitletn¢nt to lh¢ funds dn!" ronditions linkd io thc grants ha￿£ bccn mct. Il'hcre ￿rIomianlL conditions arc atiachcd to IhL grani and are io bc mct. the incorne is recognised as a liability and included on the balance shed as delerred income ￿ be released. T8ngibl¢ filed a55ets Indii"idual tiled assets c05ting a significant arnount are initiall}"' recorded at cosL less any Subsequent awutnuldltd dwr¢¢iativTr and 5ubse4ueni a¢¢utnulal¢(l iTnpairrneni losses. 70 Country Trust Annual Report 2023 71

The Country Trust The Country Trust Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Notes to the Financial Statemellts for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Deprecition and &mortisAtio Depreciatithn 1% pn)% ided ()n tangible fixed J%%ei% %0 as to WTlte <)ff the c<)4 or ialuatiort, less anj" estimatrd rcsidual i'aluc. oi'cr Iheir CXWlLd uscful CLonomic lifc as follows= instrumellts Classificalion The eharithble com¢yanJ onl!. holds basie financial instrumcnts as detined in FRS 102. The financial asscts and rinancial liabilitie5 ofthe charitable compan!, and their measurement basis are as follou's: Asset class otfice equipment & software Depreciati(bll mtthod and rate ?5Q,o reducino balance FIn￿¢l￿1 Js5¢ts- trad¢ oth¢r deM(ITS dre basi¢ fill<￿¢701 instrurn¢ntS' debt instruTn¢ntS at amortiscd eost. Prepal'mcnts are not tinancial instruments. Tr¥de debtors '] rade and other debior5 are recognised at the Settlement amount due. Cash at bank- is classifled as a basic financial instrument and is measured at face value. Chsh cash equivalents Cash and cash c4uivalcnts comprisc Lash on hand and Lall dewsiis. and oihcr short-term hiohli. liquid invcstmcnis that arc rcadilN' L0n￿Lrtiblc to a knoiNn amouni ot. Lash and are subject to an insi8nilicani risk or change in value. Financial liabilities- trade erediiors. aLcnJals and other Lreditors are linancial in%irumenLS. and are n)ea8ured at amortised co￿. T&iaiion and social securit) are not included in the tinanLial instruments disclosure detinition. Deferred income is not deeined to be a financial liabiliti." as the cash 5etiletnent alread), tsken place and thejr 15 an obligation ts) delii'er s¢Th?ice5 ratheT than ush vr another finan¢ial insirurnent. Trade creditors Creditors are recognised at their settlement amoutjt. 3 IlltO￿t donatioll$ Itgxtits Ilnrestriettd funds Rtstrirted funds Tot1 2023 Fund structure Unrestricted income tunds are general tund5 that are available for use at the trusltts's discretion in funherance of the obj¢dives of the charitable compani. t)¢signrfii¢d funds <ir¢ fun(15' set %15id¢ th¢ tTUStt¢s out of unrestTicl¢d fund5" for S￿]ri¢ fulur¢ Pu￿5¢5 or pri)jeLI%. Reqiricied income furtd% are tho%e donated i)r reeeiied fi)r use irt a particulat area tsr lor S￿tIrIL PilryX)ses. the use of ii'hich is rcstrictcd to that arca or purp)se. DonatlOn5 ChaTithble TTU%L% and granl making ix)dies Don￿Cd scTh"iLfS and gifts in kind 161.965 400.741 296,158 359.299 1.370 4)8,12) 760.040 1.370 567 706 656.827 1.219.533 Unrestricte funds Re5trieted funds Total 2022 Pensions other post retiremettt obligations The ¢haritJble ¢u)tnpments e.%Leed the Loniribuiion dlle lor sen ILe. the ekLess Is reLognised as a prepaiment. 72 Country Trust Annual Report 2023 73

The Country Trust The Country Trust Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Notes to the Financial Statemellts for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 4 Incorne from charitable activities 6 EApenditure on charitable 8Ctii-itie5 Unrestricted funds Restricted futtds Total 2023 ActiVTty dertake directly Attivity support costs 2023 CountTrside Discovcr¥' Residcniial Visits Food DiscoveTr' 121.(KJ7 22.206 121.(R*7 22.?06 CouniTh"side Di5coI'en" Resideniial Visits F(K)d fJiscoi"en" FaTTh Vi%iL% Fann in a Box Soil 193.948 178.296 440.639 70,494 47.383 79,054 72,674 179.605 30,104 273,tX)2 250,970 620,244 100,598 66,696 14J.27J 14J.27J Unrestricted funds Restricted fund5 Total 2022 Countr%'si(le Di5cuTr¢rv ReSId￿lIa1 Visits Food Di8Lovery Farm Visits 93(1.760 87.080 87.080 380,750 7.616 7.616 360 Activity ndertak¢ directly A¢tivitTr support tosts 9).056 95.Vi6 2022 Countr¥'side Discoi'en". Resideniial Visits F(K)d Discoi"m" Farni Vi%its lii.i27 148.363 393.213 117.922 84,474 81.739 2?2.637 87.967 2)7.801 2JO.102 615.850 205.889 5 Ini'estment intome Unrestricted funds Restricted fund5 Total 2023 Farni in a Box 817 825 476.¥17 1.289.fy12 Interest TeLeivable on bank deposits 16.631 16.631 16.6il The expendiiure anali.sed aiKIN"e includes goi'erllance costs of £6.636 12022 - £6.0001 Ivhich relate directl!, to charitable aclii ities. Se¢ note 7 for futther d¢￿TIs. [Inre5tricted funds Restricted funds Tolal 2022 Int¢rest rcceiTrable on bank dwsiis 3.259 3.2)9 j9 74 Country Trust Annual Report 2023 75

Trustees Report

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76 Country Trust Annual Report 2023

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The Country Trust The Country Trust Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Notes to the Financial Statemellts for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 2023 2022 £60.001 £70.000 13 DebtOTS 2023 2022 The total employee benefits of the key managernent ￿rSOnnel of the charitable company were £69.5i3 12022- £69.V?Ul. Tnde det)totS 93,150 12.414 103,IlY 21.737 Prepalmcnts IOi,i64 124,856 I l Taxation The LhaTiiable thmpany 18 a regi%tered charity and 1% therefore e.xempi Irom i&%aiion. 14 C8$h 8nd ¢a5h equi14l¢nts 2023 2022 12 Tanglble fixed assets Cash ai bank 907.158 8i6,882 otrice equipment & software Totsl Cash ai ihc bank broadl). Teprescnis unrcstrieied resm'cs. hcld in aceordancc ￿'1th thc charitv's y)Iics"' Ot'aiming for ihrce monihs 0￿ratIn￿ rcscTh"es. a small amount of r¢stri￿¢d rescrn'cs, and detcrrcd incomc. incom¢ rtteii.ed in 2023 in re4￿￿ of acti%"ities taking pla￿ after the year end. Cost At l JanuaTh 2023 Additions 14.2)3 2.624 1425) 2.6?4 IS Cr¢ditOTS= falling dut within y¢ar At 31 Decemkr 2023 16.877 16.877 2023 2022 Depreciation At l January 202) Charge fi)r Ihe year Trade crcdiiors OLher taxation and S￿La[ security. Oiher cr¢dito AccTuals Deferred income 24,432 9,242 3.928 6.3(K) 443.476 47,841 6,128 4.461 6.540 339,7¥6 8.99) 1.767 8.wi 1.767 At 31 DeLember 2023 10.762 10.762 Ntt book value 487,i78 404,756 Ai i l De¢¢mb¢r 2023 6.1 li At J l DeLember 2022 i.:)8 i.2)8 2023 2022 t)ef¢rred in(xime at l Janudr)" 202) Resources delerred in the period Amounts released from pM'iou5 periods 3J9.786 2J2,834 339.786 1232.8341 443.476 1339.7861 Deferred income at i'&gr end 443.476 3J9,786 78 Country Trust Annual Report 2023 79

The Country Trust The Country Trust Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Notes to the Financial Statemellts for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Prior i'ear.. 16 Fund5 Balance At Balance at I Janu8ri 31 CurTen¢ Jear.. R¢source5 txptthded Decemb¢r Balance at JI Dccethber 2022 resourtts Tr#rtsfers 2022 Balartte #t I January 2023 Re50urte$ expelldtd resources Transfers 2023 Unre5tridedfuNdF Gcneral 686,314 544.175 1578.2921 {93.1631 5)9,034 Unres¢rict¢dfunds (Teneral 5i9,034 i79,i3i {498,i38) {136,6201 iOi.211 Restritted al Residential bl FIKMJ disroi'ery. cl Fam) i isits dlFarni inaBox 1.678 84.726 139,644 90.864 297.456 134.ioo Ili3,3281 1148,3621 12,006 16.0001 95.757 18.6001 Restricted l Re%idential bl Food discovery cl l.arm i'isitS dl FJrtn in d Box el Soil 21.228 182.258 1193.9481 11782961 1440.6391 {71.8641 147.)8Jl 11.6 21,228 190.649 296.159 63.486 68.000 120.OWI 144.480 6.4(K) li.9501 13.581 1123.9221 1,978 1.978 Total restritted 86.4(H 662.464 1818.11251 93,163 23.206 14.667 Total funds 772.718 1.206.639 582,240 Total r¢stric¢¢d 23.206 800.i52 19J2.lJOI 136.620 28.248 Total funds 582.240 I,J79.887 11.4JO.6681 )J1.4i9 The S￿]fiL purtx)b¢s f(IT whiih th¢ fund5" dr¢ to ￿ appli¢d as foll(Iws.' Restricied funds.. al l.und5 10 5ubsidi5¢ the cosi of COUnt￿'side Di5coieTh' Re5idtntial Trisits enabling disadN'antaged PTiTnary" age Children to ¢xperien¢¢ f(i(Id, fJ' rtning Jnd th¢ Lvuntrvsid¢_ bl Fi)r leaching di8adwantaged primarn school Lhildren io groi%' & c<)ok fresh PToduce. e.Kplore IoLal famjs. rnn plaiground markets &. a hariesi least. and to tfdin ieachers in relei ant elemenis ot" Learning Ouiside the Classroorn. Ll Funds relating l(1 the PTOI'15ion of Fartn an(1 CountTh'sid¢ Discole￿. ¢du¢ational dai" I"i5i15 bringing the vrkin¥ L(iunlrysid¢ Iv lif¢ fvr pritndr) 5Lhix)l ¢hildr¢n fr(iTn diwJi"￿t(￿¢d and nviy th¢ FJtm in a Ilv programme bringing lami Lenired, hands on: e.xperierttial leamino inio schools. orollps and homes. dl This tund is to SUPFOrt children and educators so that Ihei can hai'e a farni-eentred eX￿lenCe ivithout leaTring their school gTounds or location. el Fund f(Ir ()ur n¢K%' Soil H¢rfilth Ciitnpai¥n PlJnt Yvur Pants. It-5 J publiL ¢ngagetn¢nt rdfnptti¥n to help ewervone think. diflerentl), aboui ihe earth beneath our leet and to disLoier ho%v it supwrts all our liies. 80 Country Trust Annual Report 2023 81

The Country Trust The Country Trust Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 Notes to the Financial Statemellts for the Year Ended 31 Deeember 2023 17 Analysi5 of net 95sets between fuNd5 CurTen¢ JeaT.- 18 Prior vear StattThent of Financial Aetivitie5 Total 2022 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Totsl fu￿￿5 at 3111212023 Ullrestritted Restriettd Nott llleome and EndowmtDts from: Dtsnaiion% and le￿tIeS Charitsblc aeLii'iiies Ini"esunent incoine Other inu)Tne Tangible fixed assets C.urr¢nt ass¢t5 Curreni liabiliti&% 6.115 675.869 1178.77Jl 6.lli 1.012.7?2 1487.J781 540.916 i67,208 95.056 1,108.124 95.056 3.259 200 JJ6.$iJ 1308.6nil 3,259 Total net assets 503.211 28.248 5i1.459 200 Totsl inc()tne 544.175 61)2.464 1.206.C)J9 Prioryeur.- Eipenditurt oll= Raising funJ5 ChaTithble aetii'ities Unrestricted fllttds Restricted funds Total funds at 3111212022 107.475 470.817 107.475 1,289.642 818.825 Tangible fixed assets Cu￿ent a55e15 Curr¢nl liJbiliti 5.258 731.299 1177.52)) 5.958 981.7J8 141)4.7il)I Tothl el￿nd]lure 578.292 Sl 8.825 1,)97.117 ?50.439 12?7.2iil e.xrendilUTe Trdnsfers beTh4ren fijnds {156.3611 93.163 1190.4781 193.1631 Tvl(Il n¢t obs¢L5 j51).Oi4 j82.940 moiemcnt in fi]nds 1127.2801 {6i.1981 1190.4781 Reconciliation of funds Tothl funds bri)ughi fi)r4¥ard 686.i14 86.404 772.718 Tothl funds carried fom 16 ii9.OJ4 582.24 82 Country Trust Annual Report 2023 83

The Country Trust The Country Trust Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ellded 31 December 2023 Total 2023 Total 2022 Ineorne a￿d F.ndowments frO￿- t)onaiions and leoaiie5 lanall'sed belolvl Charitable actii"ities lanalTr"sed kloM"I lrti e%tsneni ine<)me ,219.i33 143.273 16,63 1 4iO 1,108,124 95.056 3,259 21>0 Other income Toial income 1.379,887 1206.639 Expenditure on: Raisino (unds Charitsble actii"ities lanal}"sed iEIoii" 119.158 1,311.51V 107,475 1.289.642 Total ex￿nditU 1,4JO.668 1.197,117 ex￿ndItuTe 150.7811 1190.4781 moiement in fvnds {50.7811 1190.4781 Reconciliation of fu￿d5 The following pages do not forni part of ihe statutory. financial staiements. Total tun(ts bn)ughi fon%ard j82 ?40 772.718 Tothl fijnits carried torn i31.4)9 582.240 This p3ge does not fortn part of the Statutory financial ststetnents.. 84 Country Trust Annual Report 2023 85

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To support our work visit: www.countrytrust.org.uk Registered charity no. 1122103 Head office: Moulsham Mill, Parkway, Chelmsford, Essex. CM2 7PX President: The Duke of Westminster

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86 Country Trust Annual Report 2023

Country Trust AnnualImpact Report 202 31