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Farming Today: Christmas Panto

25/12/2021

Christmas Panto

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Christmas Panto

A chatty farmer, his wife Helie, and 300 farm animals put on a panto for the world to see.

The Franklins run Caenhill Countryside Centre in Devizes, educating 750,000 followers each day on social media. Now they're putting on a Christmas panto for the world to see.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people around the world watch a Wiltshire farmer as he lets out his animals into the farmyard. Chris Franklin from Marsh Farm is known as the “chatty farmer” and his videos of the animals’ morning rush-hour have gone viral.

Chris and his wife Helie have turned the dairy farm in Devizes where he grew up into a centre for education, working with schools, care homes and community groups. Caenhill Countryside Centre has more than 300 animals, from poultry and pigs, to goats, sheep and cows, even emus!

The farm’s now a charity, and relies on volunteers to help run it. They have around three quarters of a million followers on social media. They’re putting on a Christmas panto, which they’ll share with viewers in more than 50 different countries.

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