PROFILE: Oxford City Farm founder Lucie Mayer

“THIS won’t be for your children.”

That was the somewhat sobering advice Lucie Mayer received as she set about creating Oxford City Farm in 2008.

“It’s probably the wisest thing anyone said to me,” admitted the mother-of-two, whose children are now 12 and 15 and moving beyond the target age to get the most from the urban green space.

The project has been a labour of love for the 46-year-old, who has spent the past decade turning her dream into a reality, alongside a committed group of trustees and volunteers.

The idea was rooted in her own childhood in London and experiences of city farms near her Islington home.

“I really loved the access to animals and feeling part of a community in a really supported and natural environment,” she explained.

Her love of the outdoors was further encouraged through family holidays on a farm in the Scottish Highlands, near Dingwall.

She came to Oxford at 19 to study nursing at Oxford Brookes University and never left the city, taking a variety of roles working with children and young people.

For the past 13 years she was a nurse at Helen and Douglas House, until the East Oxford hospice closed its adult services this summer.

She said: “It was a really sad thing. I actually first started talking about the idea for the city farm with a colleague at Helen and Douglas in 2008.”

From there she started meeting with a group of interested people to discuss how to make the urban farm happen.

It was at one of these meetings that a representative from the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens gave her the words of wisdom that she continues to remember to this day.

“She said ‘this is going to take a long time, it’s not for your children’ – it was good advice because this isn’t something that happened overnight.”

The group’s first mission was to find a suitable piece of land in Oxford that they could rent long term.

“It involved going around the city making a note of places that seemed promising and finding out who owned them,” said Ms Mayer.

“There were lots of sites we looked at but everything really came together with the Cornwallis Road plot.”

She explained its proximity to homes, Florence Park and the fact it is within walking distance of five schools were all selling points.

“Getting the lease sorted was the hardest thing, it wasn’t something the county council, who own the land, had ever done before and they weren’t really sure how to approach it.

“There are quite a few city farms but not many new ones because it is so difficult to set them up.”

After years of hard work, the community team finally signed a 40-year lease on their East Oxford home last February.

Ms Mayer said: “I think things really became real when we had the lease in place and were able to get onto the site and start putting things in place.”

She added she would not have made it through without the support of the rest of the community farm team.

“It has been hard sometimes but when one of us is feeling discouraged someone else is there to help. We’re a really positive group.”

After the major hurdle of getting a long-term lease was cleared in 2017 the pace accelerated on transforming the 2.5-acre plot into a space to educate people about food production and to promote healthy living.

A planning application was approved by the city council in June to allow the group to build a toilet block, sheltered outdoor kitchen and temporary office at the site.

Water and electricity were also connected at the East Oxford plot this summer, with produce grown at Oxford City Farm also starting to be used by nearby pub The Jolly Postboys to make its soups. The profits go back into funding the community site.

As well as regular volunteer working days and partnerships with local businesses the farm also holds a popular annual open day each October to showcase what is being done to a wider audience.

The kind of organising and management that goes into running the farm has been a ‘huge learning experience’ for Ms Mayer, who had never done something on such a large scale before.

“I spend most of my time working on the farm doing paperwork behind a computer screen, which somewhat defeats the point.”

But, she said, the rewards of what is being achieved far outweigh the downsides – even for her children.

“I’m sure they resent the meetings sometimes, they’ve told me as much, but I think they’re really proud of what I’m doing as well. Plus they are fans of the animals.”

She added: “I also feel proud of the farm, although after 10 years we are really only at the start of what we plan on developing.

“It is really about bringing people together and giving them access to a space where they can be involved in something meaningful.

“I think it can be quite surprising that in Oxford, where you are surrounded by countryside, there are still quite a lot of children who don’t really have any experience with nature and the outdoors.

“Not just children but all ages are benefitting already from what we are doing here.”

A decade – and a massive amount of hard work – on from that initial idea, Ms Mayer said she hoped the Oxford City Farm could act as example of what can be achieved by local people.

She said: “Since austerity communities are having to take it upon themselves. I’m very pleased to be part of something for people in my area.”

In the New Year things will take another step forward for the farm with the employment of a chief executive and development worker.

Funding is still being secured for the new positions and Ms Mayer said the farm was reliant on the generosity of the public.

Last year £12,000 was raised through community donations.

For more information about the farm, volunteering or donating visit oxfordcityfarm.org.uk.