For over 20 years, Hackney City Farm has been giving the local community the opportunity to experience farming right in the heart of the city.
It offers an opportunity for children and adults to get up close to a range of farmyard animals.

The animals that can be seen on this farm include pigs, donkey’s,goats, sheep, small animals and chickens

Here you can watch a sheep shearing, buy some hen’s eggs from happily rescued ex-battery hens, visit a beautiful straw bale building (recently built by volunteers), eat at the very lovely Italian cafe. Especially good outing for children to learn where food comes from, or for anyone wanting to meet people in and get involved with the local community. It combines a ramshackle, farmyard feel with a vibrant community bustle to make all visitors feel at home.

Hackney City Farm is small and self contained with a lovely little cafe which makes it a good place for those with a young family. The cute donkey on my profile picture is a resident of Hackney City Farm and she lives there amongst an array of ducks, chickens, goats and the most enormous pigs you would have ever seen! The Farm is a short walk from Hoxton Flower Market which makes a good follow-on visit if you go to the farm on a Sunday. The farm is free and there is the opportunity to buy farm-fresh eggs to take-away.

Tucked into the corner of Haggerston Park, the City Farm, like the larger Park, packs an amazing amount into a tiny space. Even the several flocks of chickens use the yard on a rota system. There’s a building with a nice café, and sometimes events such as a craft market. From there you can walk on through to the yard, which is full of chickens and surrounded by various sheds and stalls, some of them holding more chickens. They seem to have a lot of chickens. There’s also a shed with small pet-type creatures. Some of the stalls will probably be empty, with their usual inhabitants out in the fields: goats, a donkey, sheep and a couple of calves maybe. All pretty friendly and happy to come up to the fence to be petted. When I say fields by the way, I am not implying anything large…

Anyway it’s free to get in, though donations are welcome. There’s also opportunities to volunteer if you feel like getting your hands dirty.

A farm. A real farm. Right bang in Hackney, London. With real animals, like pigs and donkeys and goats and all kinds of weird and wonderful creatures. There's a cafe serving homemade food and they organise loads of activities and farm projects. Yes, dear city inhabitants, it's a proper farm. How cool is that? Open all year except for Mondays.