Temple Newsam has its own farm. Home Farm used to produce most of the food for the people that lived in the House and for their servants.

It had lots of different animals and birds; a dairy where the cows were milked and cheese and butter were made; fields that were used to grow oats, barley and wheat; vegetable gardens where carrots, potatoes, beans, peas and cabbages were grown. A nearby windmill at Colton, which is still there (near Sainsbury's) used to grind the wheat grown on the farm, to make bread and there was even a walled fruit garden, protected from frosts and strong winds, where apples, pears, plums, gooseberries, quinces, peaches, vines and strawberries would be grown.

Home Farm still has many different breeds of animals and poultry, but now, all of them are rare breeds that hold the key to the genetic variety of life. Some of the breeds we have here are so rare that there are only a few hundred individual animals in existence. That's really rare! It is very important that we make sure these animals don't die out, because they may have special characteristics that we need to breed in to more commercial breeds to keep them strong and healthy in the future.

Here's a chance to meet some of our beautiful animals, with a virtual tour of Home Farm.

This way...