I took a trip to the Maiden Castle Farm sunflower trail to experience the breath-taking view of nearly one million sunflowers.
If you travel through Dorchester and take a turning down a little country road, I promise you won’t regret the sight that will meet you at the end.
The field is bursting to life with 990,000 vibrant sunflowers – the perfect place to visit with family, friends or even on your own.
I caught up with Hazel Hoskin, the woman behind the breath-taking attraction.
Hazel and her family have been running the sunflower farm since 2021.
She explained that ‘the best thing about it is that everyone leaves with a smile on their face,’ and I can certainly see why.
A couple recently visited from Kansas, USA which is known as ‘the sunflower state’ and said that ‘it was even better than back home.’
The walk through is so tranquil and relaxing, taking approximately half an hour to get through.
In fact, there are two trails whether you fancy a longer or a shorter walk, or perhaps have some mobility issues.
This year, there are a number of benches scattered throughout the trail with the idea that people can stop and take in the view or have various rest stops whilst they wonder through.
If you’re looking at the field from a birds-eye-view, the larger trail spells out the word farming, whilst the shorter one spells out the word food as ‘food and farming’ is the theme of this year’s attraction.
The trail had to open later this year due to some more adverse weather.
Hazel said: “We have had a lot of rain which meant we were delayed in getting the seeds planted and it just continued to rain so they had a difficult start. But they were thriving over the weekend with all the sun, and different areas are continuing to slowly fill in so I am hoping that that will extend our opening.
“Farming this year has been challenged more than any other year and every year is different - The challenge of a farmer is that we have to work with what we are given.”
As a result of the weather, there is a lot more undergrowth and wildlife living in the field than ever before and there are always lots of bees.
Another unique factor of this year’s trail is that a number of sculptures have been dotted about.
These sculptures have been created by a local artist from Crewkerne called Dan, and are all in the shape of hearts, except for one impressive highland cow.
The artist has also created a driftwood heart which is set to be raffled off with tickets costing £1.
Despite its popularity, the sunflower trail cannot go on forever due to the lifespan of the flowers so a provisional end date has been earmarked as Wednesday, August 28, although Hazel hopes that they may be able to continue until the end of the month.
Once the flowers die, they are harvested, and one year the seeds were used for bird seeds, whilst the stems are used for mulch.
The overall aim is to turn the crops into oil for cooking.
Hazel buys in sunflower seeds fresh every year and then one of her ‘farming neighbours’ plants them with a precision drill.
Maiden Castle Farm is actually owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and the farm was granted to the Duchy by Edward III under Royal Charter 16, dated July 1342. The Hoskin family became tenants of the farm in 1987.
READ MORE: Spectacular sunflower trail opens TODAY
The farm is approximately 1000 acres, covering the size of around 566 football pitches.
Hazel explained that all sorts of people visit the trail including the ‘romantic couples,’ families, friends and also ‘influencers.’
As you near the end of the trail, ‘the butterfly meadow’ is the perfect spot for people to take a break and enjoy a picnic whilst they sit and enjoy the view.
It is also the setting of ‘story time in the sunflowers’ which will take place at 2.30pm every Thursday – and is just one of many events taking place this year.
Another was the Sunflower Stride event which took place on Saturday, August 16 and saw runners trapesing through the golden landscape.
The ‘Sundowner Evenings’ are also expected to be very popular and will see musicians perform against the scenic fields as the sun sets over Dorset.
If visitors wanted to take home a little memento from the farm, fresh flowers are picked every day and there is also a great selection of arts and crafts up for sale.
People can also grab a drink from the ‘Café on Wheels’ which ironically spells out COW as an acronym – bringing it back to the farming roots.
Delicious and fresh sausage rolls which are made from meat bred at Maiden Castle Farm and veggie wellingtons are also up for sale.
All of the staff were extremely helpful and friendly and Hazel revealed that they are ‘all from around Dorchester, with most of them are from local school Thomas Hardye.’
She added: “They do enjoy it and some have even come back after working here last year.”
To top everything off, proceeds from the trail are donated to local charities. This year, the charity of choice is the Dorset County Hospital’s Emergency and Critical Care Appeal.
The first year that the sunflower trail opened marked the 18th birthday of her eldest son who was born at just 26 weeks and spent two and a half months in the Special Care Baby Unit at DCH.
The Maiden Castle Farm Sunflower Trail is a hidden gem tucked away in the Dorset countryside and is 100 per cent worth a visit this summer.
Entry is £5 per person and for more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/MaidenCastleFarm.
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