Mayfields Farm40 acres grassland farm At only 40 acres, Mayfields Farm may be small, but it is beautiful and every aspect of it has been considered for wildlife. It was donated to the CRT in 2004 by Greta McDonough and is based in the quaint village of Themelthorpe, in the parish of Foulsham, Norfolk. Tenant Farmer, Sarah Jenkins has a small flock of breeding pedigree Norfolk horns, southdown and Scottish blackface sheep on the small-holding, but her main activities are related to the traditional skills of shepherding, passing this heritage skill on to future generations and training sheepdogs and their handlers. Sarah Jenkins is also the CRT's Education Officer for Mayfields Farm. She hosts a number of school visits as a part of the MOSAIC education programme. A traditional orchard of indigenous trees was planted at Mayfields Farm not long after the CRT took over. At 10 years old, the orchard is still in its adolescent stage, but will soon be reaching maturity. Sheep and lambs graze around the trees making it a beautiful spot to sit and take in the atmosphere and forget about modern life for a few moments. Sarah Jenkins and Countryfile's Margherita TaylorAnother highlight of the farm is the wet woodland, which is rare. The unusual habitat attracts a wide range of different species. A raised, accessible footpath runs through the wet woodland to allow everyone to enjoy it from a safe perspective which leads to the red squirrel enclosure. Our red squirrels on Countryfile We are delighted that Mayfields Farm is part of the East Anglian Red Squirrel Group. We have three dedicated red squirrel breeding enclosures housing up to two pairs at a time. We hope to breed two litters from each pair every year with each litter giving us up to eight kittens to re-introduce into the wild in areas that do not have a red squirrel population, such as Anglesey in North Wales. Sarah Jenkins, volunteers along with Chrissie Kelley from East Anglian Red Squirrel Group featured on Countryfile in 2019. During the episode, the Countryfile explored how Sarah trains sheepdogs and their handlers, breeds red squirrels in the new-build luxury squirrel house and maintains the grasslands that she new as a child. BBC Iplayer Location Donate to a living, working countryside! Please select a donation amount: * £10 Will help towards the cost of buying supplementary bird seed, sourced from local suppliers. £25 Covers some of the administration costs for wildlife walks and open farm days. £50 Covers the cost of our Wildlife Monitoring Officers completing one afternoon monitoring the butterflies. £100 Covers the cost of welcoming a class of children onto a farm for a half day session. Other Donate About Education Wildlife Events Volunteer Wild Camping Sheepdog Training Mayfields Team Birds – Mayfields Farm Notable species spotted at Mayfields Farm Spotted flycatcher Cuckoo Yellowhammer UK conservation status: Red UK conservation status: Red UK conservation status: Red Common species spotted at Mayfields Farm Greenfinch Fieldfare Starling UK conservation status: Green UK conservation status: Red UK conservation status: Red Donate now Please select a donation amount: * £11.50 Would cover the the minimum cost of seed per farm per week. Although our greedy birds often want more! £25 Would purchase a small squirrel proof bird feeder. Other Donate Read the latest wildlife news Do you have images that you'd be happy for the CRT to use? Submit By submitting this image you are agreeing the Countryside Restoration Trust can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. We do not need to ask you permission from or provide credit to you the photographer. More precisely, you grants the Countryside Restoration Trust an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use your submitted photo for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer.