Five Acres Community Garden

10/10/2025

🎉 Happy Friday everyone! 🎉

What a cracking day we’ve had at the centre!

We started the morning with a good old-fashioned clear-out, sorting, tidying and binning all sorts of random treasures we found lying around. Who knew we had so many mystery Tupperware lids? 😅

Cooking School smashed it again with a proper chicken dinner with vegetables. The smell alone was enough to make everyone wander toward the kitchen. 🍗🥕

This afternoon we had a lovely group chat for Down Syndrome Awareness Month. We talked about what Down syndrome is, what makes each of us unique, and why being different is something to celebrate. 💛💙

And before we finish, a big happy birthday to Sam, who’s celebrating this weekend! 🎂 Hope you have a brilliant time bowling and score a few strikes. 🎳

A great end to a great week. Have a fantastic weekend everyone, see you on Monday! 🌞🌻

09/10/2025

Happy Thursday everyone! 🌞
What an absolutely cracking day we’ve had at our Brafferton site today!

This morning we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck into cleaning the stable area, sweeping, brushing and scrubbing. You name it, we did it! It’s now looking sparkling clean and ready for our four-legged friends to strut their stuff. 🧹🐴

Now for the big news… we’ve started the foundations for the school extension! 🧱 It’s all systems go, and the next exciting stage kicks off on Tuesday next week. Watch this space!

Over at the greenhouse, things are heating up (literally). Some of the glass panels went in today and it’s looking amazing already! 🌿💪

And of course, we can’t forget Megan’s birthday celebrations! 🎉
She’s turning 25 on Sunday, but we couldn’t wait that long to party. There was cake, music, dancing, probably some questionable moves, and plenty of laughs. We hope you’ve had a brilliant day, Megan, and that Sunday brings you everything you deserve (and more cake). 🎂💃

That’s all from us today. Have a fab evening everyone and we’ll see you bright and early tomorrow! 🌞🐓

08/10/2025

🌟 Happy Wednesday, what a day! 🌟

This morning our fabulous crew joined forces with Lauren Iceton from the Civic Pride Team at Durham County Council, Pauline Welch from Aycliffe Village Hall, and a bunch of other amazing volunteers (including our very own superstar Wendy!) for a good old-fashioned litter pick! 🗑️✨

We marched through Aycliffe Village and the park like a team of eco-warriors on a mission — no crisp packet stood a chance! 💪 By the end, we’d collected enough rubbish to fill a small mountain. Huge thank you to everyone who got stuck in — you’re all bin-credible! 😄

After all that hard work, we returned to the centre for a well-deserved cuppa, cake, and biscuits. There were crumbs, laughter, and a few debates over who earned the biggest slice of cake (spoiler: everyone did 🍰).

Meanwhile, back at Brafferton, the team were busy making the place sparkle — weeding the front entrance to make it look lovely, refilling hay nets, topping up water buckets, and mucking out the animals. It’s safe to say we’ve all earned our naps tonight! 😴🐴

Another fab day all round — have a wonderful evening everyone, and we’ll see you tomorrow for more fun and muddy madness! 🌿💚

07/10/2025

🎉Happy Tuesday, everyone!🎉

It’s been go-go-go from the minute we arrived this morning — balloons flying everywhere, wrapping paper chaos, and a last-minute cake dash that would put Supermarket Sweep to shame! 🛒🎈

All of that madness could only mean one thing… Andy’s 40th SURPRISE PARTY! 🥳

Our very own Head of Horticulture and Brafferton boss man walked in looking like he’d just seen his polytunnel sprout legs and run off! 😂 Once the shock wore off, he was all smiles (and maybe a few happy tears… or was that from laughing so hard?).

We had cake, laughter, and enough balloons to float Brafferton to the moon! 🌝
Happy 40th Birthday, Andy — you’re bloomin’ brilliant! 🌿🎂

Meanwhile, our Cooking School team were cooking up a storm with some delicious spaghetti carbonara — and somehow managed to avoid covering the kitchen in cream and chaos (mostly)! 🍝👏

A cracking day from start to finish — full of food, fun, and fabulous people!
Have a great evening everyone, and we’ll see you tomorrow for more adventures at Five Acres ❤️

06/10/2025

Happy Monday, everyone! 🎉
We hope you all had a fab weekend and are ready to kick-start another fun-filled week at Five Acres!

Today, we took a little adventure to B&M in Darlington – baskets were filled, bargains were found, and we may have picked up one or two essential snacks along the way (because shopping is hungry work, right?). All in preparation for someone’s very special day tomorrow… 👀🎂

Brafferton Site Update:
The team have been busy bees getting the foundations ready for the amazing new school extension! Hard hats on, spades at the ready – it’s all happening! Keep your eyes peeled… you’re not going to want to miss this! 🚜🧱

This afternoon, we swapped shopping bags for pumpkin guts! 🎃 There were seeds flying, lots of laughter, and some seriously spooky (and slightly silly) faces taking shape. Let’s just say… our pumpkins are looking frightfully fabulous! 👻

Katelyn made some delicious chocolate brownies too- fantastic job!🎂

And if you fancy joining in the Halloween spirit, our Five Acres Halloween T-shirts are now live on the website! 🧡
Grab yours here before they disappear into the night:
👉 https://www.fiveacres.uk/fiveacres-creations/p/halloween-t-shirts

Have an awesome evening, everyone – we’ll see you tomorrow for the big celebration! 🧡🎉

06/10/2025

🎃 Hi everyone!
Our Halloween T-shirts are now available to purchase from the website! 👕🕸️
Click the link below to get yours:
👉 https://www.fiveacres.uk/fiveacres-creations/p/halloween-t-shirts

Many thanks,
Billie 😊

Please send an email with your desired size and leave your name and phone number. Please note it is collection only.

03/10/2025

🌟 Happy Friday, everyone! 🌟

We’ve been centre-based today, battening down the hatches at Brafferton in preparation for Storm Amy. Don’t worry – everything’s tied down tighter than a toastie in a sandwich press. Storm Amy isn’t getting past us! 💪🌪️

The day kicked off with arts and crafts where we designed our very own masks (move over Marvel, Five Acres is coming through). We also brewed up some magical potions – and decided what kind of superheroes we’d be. Spoiler alert: we’d all have snack-related superpowers.

🍴 Cooking School smashed it again today with toasties and chips. And yes, they were as delicious as they sound – sorry you couldn’t join us.

This afternoon, the creativity kept flowing as we painted canvases using our very posh pens (a big thank you to everyone who helped tick them off our wish list – we’re feeling proper fancy now ✨🖊️).

And to top it all off, today we posted an extra dose of Joe! But instead of a joke, he gave everyone a full tour of Brafferton. Move aside David Attenborough – we’ve got Joe! 🎥

That’s us done for the week – have a brilliant weekend, keep safe from Storm Amy, and we’ll see you all Monday!

03/10/2025

02/10/2025

Happy Thursday everyone!

Another brilliant day at Brafferton:
🐴 Stables mucked out – horses supervising as usual, making sure we didn’t miss a spot.
🌱 Greenhouse nearly finished – we’re so close you can almost hear the tomatoes cheering us on. Big push and it’ll be done!
🎨 Arts and crafts carried on with scrapbooking – lots of glue, glitter, and creative masterpieces (plus a few sticky fingers).

And… the one and only Jokes with Joe is out! Already on 127 views 🤩. At this rate, Joe will need his own agent and tour bus.

That’s Thursday in the bag – have a great evening everyone, and we’ll see you tomorrow for more fun and laughter!

02/10/2025

01/10/2025

We are absolutely honoured and delighted to share that Five Acres Community Garden CIC has become the very first corporate member of the Rotary Club of Great Aycliffe! 💛🌱

Yesterday, we had the privilege of welcoming members of the Rotary to our Brafferton school for a truly special occasion – Don Walker - The President, Jean Thompson and Geoff Knapton were present for the unveiling of a plaque to mark this partnership 🏅.

This moment means so much to us. To be recognised and welcomed by such a well-respected organisation, known for the amazing work it does both locally and around the world, is something we will treasure. 🌍💙

Becoming corporate members is more than a milestone – it’s a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with people who share our values of kindness, service, and community spirit. Together, we can grow even stronger and reach even further for the people we support. 💪🌟

From all of us at Five Acres: thank you to the Rotary Club of Great Aycliffe for opening this door, for believing in us, and for joining us on this journey. And thank you to our champions, families, volunteers, and team whose hard work makes moments like this possible. 🌻

Here’s to new beginnings, shared dreams, and a future full of growth and possibility. ✨💛

01/10/2025

🌟 Happy Wednesday & happy 1st of October! Can you believe how fast this year is flying by? 🚀✨

This morning we strutted into Home Bargains, Faverdale like VIPs on a mission 🛒 – and came out armed with bins and sweeping brushes. Living. The. Dream. 🧹😆

Back at base, the DIY crew were back at it 💪🌱 – carrying on with the greenhouse build AND putting together shiny new shelving units. Who needs B&Q when you’ve got Team Five Acres?

🍴 Over in Cooking School, the team dished up golden roasties with chicken wraps – plates cleared in record time! (Sorry, no leftovers this week… they were far too good 👩‍🍳👌).

This afternoon, creativity took over as we made our scrapbook pages 📖✨ to go in the official Five Acres scrapbook – the perfect way to capture our progress and memories as we go.

Then came a sing-song 🎶😂 (our reel is live – caution: side effects may include sore cheeks from laughing too much).

And if that wasn’t enough excitement… we even had visitors over at Brafferton who came to do a bit of filming 🎥🐴 – the animals loved the attention, naturally.

👉 BUT… the real big news is still to come. Tonight, keep your eyes peeled for our second post. We’ve been keeping something under wraps, and trust us, you’ll want to see this one 👀✨

That’s all for today – see you tomorrow, and have a wonderful evening! 🌙💛