ON January 6, 1976, 30 children from a Birmingham school arrived at Nethercott House, Iddesleigh — they were to be the pioneers of an experience which this week is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The charity 'Farms for City Children', which welcomes 3,000 disadvantaged children a year, was the dream of Clare and Michael Morpurgo but it could never have happened without the support and hard work of local people.

From the beginning the Ward family, who had farmed the land at Iddesleigh for generations, welcomed the children onto the farm, to work with them and share their life with them. In the farmhouse Mrs Joan Weeks BEM, and her team of devoted ladies gave the children an experience of hospitality which many of them have never forgotten.

As a result of the success of Nethercott, Farms for City Children has opened two more farms, one in Pembrokeshire and another in Gloucestershire. Children come from some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country's inner-cities and urban estates and they become farmers for a week.

Clare Morpurgo, who was brought up on a farm, said the amazement on a child's face as he or she experienced something which many of us took for granted was really something to remember and this would continue to happen at Nethercott for the next 25 years.

'It is hard to believe that there are children who have never walked down a country lane and looked up at a sky full of stars, let alone picked up a newly laid egg, fed a pig or groomed a horse,' she said.

'My husband and I set up this charity because we felt there were a lot of children whose knowledge of rural life was something they had seen on television. We wanted to give them the smells and the real hands-on experience of the countryside and after a week here many of them do not want to go home.'

One school in Lambeth, London, has been bringing children to the farm for 15 years and the charity is now welcoming sons and daughters of the first visitors.

The Morpurgos were both teachers before they moved to Devon to set up Farms for City Children. Clare knew the area well having spent many school holidays with her grandmother in Winkleigh and for Michael, an award-winning author of over 90 books, Nethercott was a place where he could combine charity work with writing.

Twenty-five years on there are many new faces at Nethercott but the experience offered to the children who come is still the same.

Graham and David Ward work alongside the charity as partners and Jane Lambert now heads up a new and dedicated staff inside the house. Paul Garnham has been appointed as deputy to Michael Morpurgo and has already brought new enthusiasm to the job along with Tom Farley and Barry Searle.

Clare described the first quarter of a century with Farms for City Children as 'a fantastic experience.'

'It has been really rewarding being able to do something like this — 25 years of muck and magic!' she said.