STUDENTS at Wiltshire College & University Centre’s Lackham campus near Lacock have been hard at work getting ready to welcome an influx of visitors to the annual Lambing Weekends this year - as well as coping with the lambing season.

The college's farm is open to visitors tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday, when visitors can enjoy a great day out looking at the lambs and maybe even see one being born.

The annual event is now in its 25th year and around 800 ewes will be lambing. Between them they are expecting 491 sets of twins, 96 triplets, 200 single lambs and three sets of quads.

Throughout the lambing period farm staff and the agricultural students and apprentices work on rotas day and night to ensure the safe arrival of the lambs.

Ian Revill, Assistant Principal for Lackham, said: “Lackham has had an important role in educating people about farming and food production for more than 70 years.

“We are very much looking forward to welcoming people to our lambing weekends this March, which are a fun way for people to get a really engaging insight into many different aspects of farming and of course hopefully seeing a new lamb being born.”

As well as seeing lambs, visitors to Lackham can also see the Hereford cows and calves and see the dairy cows being milked – the milk from which goes to Cadbury.

There are also pigs, goats, donkeys, deer and smaller animals including rabbits and guinea pigs to see.

There are also free tractor and trailer rides between the farms, and children’s fairground rides.

A farmers market offers the chance to buy Lackham produce including meat and eggs and there are plenty of food stalls and refreshments.

Discounted tickets can be bought in advance online at https://shop.wiltshire.ac.uk/product-catalogue/events/2019-lambing-weekends and cost £6 per adult, £4 per child aged four-16 and £20 per car (this includes the driver and up to 6 passengers). Children under the age of three are free.

Tickets can also be bought on the gate on the day at £8 per adult, £6 per child or £25 per car.

Lackham is the College’s specialist land-based campus offering courses in agriculture, horse management, animal care and management, land-based engineering, land and wildlife management, gamekeeping and horticulture.

It also offers Uniformed Public Services, Sport and Foundation Studies.

The campus was under the spotlight for a different reason just a few weeks ago, when HRH The Duchess of Cornwall was shown exciting plans to transform it into a regional training centre for land-based excellence.

Plans include a new Agricultural Technology Centre, the expansion of higher education facilities, a new high-tech robotic milking parlour and dairy training buildings.

The College was awarded £22million of government Local Growth Fun money via the Swindon and Wiltshire Local enterprise Partnership in 2017 to invest in both its Salisbury and Lackham campuses. Work to redevelop parts of the Salisbury campus began in November.