Royal estate teaching Glasgow pupils about food from soil to fork

Dumfries House, which was bought by Prince Charles, has given city pupils a taste of country life with its educational garden and rare breeds farm.

And the experience is giving benefits to children and their families as youngsters take home the skills learn on the estate.

Jennifer Murphy, principal teacher at Knightswood Primary School, said: “It was our hope that the visit to Dumfries House would consolidate our children's work on food waste.

"However, it did in fact provide much more.

“The whole day was well-structured and well-organised by our two leaders. Children were aware of their expectations and clear safety guidelines were given.

"All activities were interactive and great fun, enhancing our children's knowledge on food waste, growing vegetables and planting.

"Moreover, it taught them life skills such as keeping safe, teamwork and cookery.

"It was an absolutely wonderful trip, enjoyed by both children and adults.”

Education experiences at Dumfries House form a key element of what Prince Charles, who used £20million of his charitable foundation’s money in 2007 to secure the future of the House and estate, hoped to achieve at Dumfries House.

Over the past 10 years hundreds of Glasgow pupils have benefited, learning about how food is grown and then how to cook it.

Teachers report pupils who did not know where vegetables came from or who had never planted seeds.

Recently, children from Cardonald, Knightswood and Avenue End primary schools have been among the young visitors to the estate, near Cumnock.

They have taken part in a programme run in conjunction with Cordia, which runs catering outlets at city primary and secondary schools and serves more than 63,000 children every day.

In the Kauffman Education Gardens, youngsters learn about the provenance of food and, in the kitchen of the adjacent Pierburg Building, they are taught how to prepare simple meals.

The programme has yielded positive results, with Cardonald youngsters bringing their cooking skills home and making healthy meals for their families.

Gerard Bell, class teacher at Cardonald Primary School, said: “The children had an excellent day out at Dumfries House.

"Several have told me since that they have tried making the vegetable soup themselves at home.”

Lucy Masterson, class teacher at Avenue End Primary School, said: “Dumfries House offers an invaluable example of how the things we grow are transformed into what we eat.

"The experience takes the children on a learning journey from soil to table.”

Avenue End P6 pupil Caelyn Tollett said: “We learned all about sustainability. You don’t see curly carrots in supermarkets but there is no reason why vegetables have to be a certain shape or size.”

Her classmate James Evans added: “We found out how to harvest vegetables. I have told my family that we should start growing our own.”

School groups can enjoy a range of activities at Dumfries House.

Valentin’s Education Farm, completed in Spring 2017 and officially opened by The Prince in June, contains ten different rare breeds of animal and welcomes hundreds of school children each month.

The Morphy Richards Engineering Education Centre is used to deliver in-house STEM workshops for school groups and to connect young people with hands-on experiences and advice by industry experts. The Pierburg Building and Education Centre is used to deliver training in horticulture and healthy eating programmes to visiting primary school groups, while the adjacent Kauffman Education Gardens gives pupils the opportunity to plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables for use in cookery classes.

The gardens are set to receive full organic status next year.

Karen Alexander, head of education at Dumfries House, said: “It has been a pleasure to welcome hundreds of pupils from Glasgow schools, through the Cordia programme, to the estate.

"We are really encouraged by the way school staff and pupils embraced the activities offered by our staff, engaging in different elements of cultivating vegetables and cookery.

"We have been heartened by the reports from staff at schools who have visited, who say that pupils have been so enthused by the programme that they have begun to cook at home.

"Our aim is to ensure the children leave our estate inspired to engage in similar activities back at school and at home, and, of course, to return to Dumfries House in future.”

As well as the food programme, Dumfries House estate is proud of other Glasgow links.

In Dumfries House itself, a programme runs in conjunction with Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland whereby young people are given the opportunity to access professional, specialised dance and music tuition.

In the attic, or Atelier, Future Textiles at Dumfries House is run in collaboration with Glasgow Clyde College and Ayrshire College, aiming to address a skills gap in the textiles industry by providing training workshops for secondary school teachers and pupils, as well as those seeking employability skills.