The twelfth and final month of 2025 brought a dozen GoodGymers to the Horsenden Farm volunteering day. Were we surprised by such a turnout in December? Not at all! The farm continues to attract crowds of GoodGymers from Ealing and other areas. Today’s visitors were: the regular guest from Hounslow, Maxime, and a former Ealing team member, now based in Tower Hamlets, Maria. It was great to see both of them!

The task was not only an occasion for returns, but also for new beginnings. We welcomed Raji, who already knew Horsenden’s pizza and craft beer secrets, but was keen to get stuck into various volunteering opportunities, and farm work sounded pretty exciting.

Steph Ducat, Iram and Victoria were the lucky (or shall I say mucky?) ones to get the quintessential farm experience, with its animalistic element. They got to play with Nala the dog and with cow poo. Transporting barrows and barrows of manure out of the barn, they clocked in plenty of steps and built an impressive pile of... you know what!

Meanwhile, the less dirty of the dozen played explorers in an overgrown part of Horsenden Hill. Their mission: locate a ditch, clear the ditch, build a dead hedge. Simple, right? With such a big team - yes! On the forefront, several brave ones: Ash, Freya and Raji, led the expedition, and raced each other to get to the ditch. The first timer, Raji, impressed everyone by being the first one to reach the trench. Maxime and Kash widened the paths made by the pioneers, and Afshin vigorously raked the cuttings to gather material for the dead hedge.

The ditch turned out to be longer than expected, so Penny and Sevan launched two more expeditions to attack the ditch from the other side. Both reached the destination and joined forces with those already in the trenches. Result? All unwanted vegetation has been removed from the ditch and used for constructing the dead hedge. Clearing the space will help improve the drainage at one of the trails at Horsenden Hill - when we worked on that path on a very rainy day in the past, it looked like a river!

We finished the session, traditionally, with the wood-fired pizza, and were proud to support Horsenden Loaf, which otherwise didn’t get many customers in the morning. We hoped the sales would pick up in the afternoon, and now hope that the pizza oven will be on in January. Horsenden will be one of the first sessions in 2026, so if we want to include more GoodGymming in your New Year’s resolutions, sign up now!

The first day of November 2025 didn't feel like mid-autumn at all, with the blue skies and warm sunshine welcoming us at Horsenden Farm. Apart from the yellow and orange leaves on the trees, the Halloween-themed craft market stalls that suddenly appeared at the farmyard were a gentle reminder of which season we were in.

The day was supposed to be a big milestone for the Horsenden cows, particularly for the young ones. The farm kept five rare-breed Shetland cows: three adults and two calves born this year. The eight-month-old baby cow and baby bull were to be weaned in the evening, so the task owner, Elsa, asked us for help in preparing the calves' new room in the barn, right next to their mum, but behind a barrier to discourage sucking.

Afshin and Penny came prepared with their own wellies, so they were ready to give the slightly mucky job a go. Simon joined them in moving straw bales into a trailer and hay bales into the space created after removing the straw. As a result, a spacious bedroom has been created for the calves.

In the meantime, Christos, Diana, Gaby, Victoria, Sevan, Kash, and a new Horsenden volunteer, Sam, rolled or carried the scattered logs onto a single neat pile, following Elsa's safety advice.

We don't want any logs or bodies in the ditch.

Everyone was cautious not to trip over or strain their backs when lifting, so all seven happy volunteers marched up the hill for their final task: a bramble bash! The seemingly never-ending effort of cutting back massive patches of blackberries with slashers, shears and loppers was slowly paying off with reclaimed meadow space. The reestablished grassland will be seeded with wildflowers and become a new grazing area for cows.

Speaking of grazing, after the task, following the GoodGym custom, the team gathered at a bench in a sunny spot to enjoy pizzas, baked goods, coffee or local beer. We are looking forward to keeping the tradition alive next month, even if it may get a little bit colder. If you'd like to join us, sign up for the December Horsenden session! We are hoping to see you there!

As Storm Amy approached Ealing, a whirlwind of West London GoodGymers landed at Horsenden Farm. A strong team of seventeen hasn't been seen in Ealing for a long time. It took the joint forces of Ealing, Hounslow and Richmond to build a do-good brigade so large that it surprised even the task owner, Elsa, who scrambled to find more tasks for them.

We welcomed two new joiners, Bernadette and Tom, who chose to kick off their GoodGym adventure dangerously close to the Gruffalo Trail at Horsenden Hill. With such an impressive team, the chances of being eaten by a Gruffalo were close to zero. At the same time, the odds of having fun with good company while getting active in nature before eating carb-heavy, cheesy goodness from a local bakery were very high!

Our regulars from the Hounslow group runs had a chance to welcome back the unstoppable Lucy after the break she had to take in the last couple of weeks. Great to see you again, Lucy!

Two of the tasks given by Elsa had a lot to do with the mysterious disappearance of Horsenden pigs. The first assignment, taken by Steph Ducat, Iram, Kymm and Gus, was to transfer hay from the broken-down hay bales to the former pig quarters and spread it on the ground. I chose to believe it was to secure the traces of a pignapping crime until the arrival of the forensics team. Steph described the effort as hay-way to hell as the gusts of wind kept blowing the hay out of the wheelbarrows. Kymm reported there were as many techniques to spread the hay as GoodGymers: from gleeful tossing, through grumpy kicking to methodical arranging.

Sevan and Bernadette had a task of clearing weeds, mostly nettles, near the Horsenden Loaf pizza oven. Sevan shared that they were setting the stage for the hog roast the following day. That shed some light on the disappearance of the pigs - they must have escaped when they heard about the whole hog roast enterprise!

The largest squad undertook a mammoth job of clearing brambles to expand a meadow where the farm cows could graze to help establish a grassland with plenty of wildlife on the slope of Horsenden Hill. Gaby, Ariane, Tom, Mairaj, Maxime, Afshin, Thaiza, Lucy and Kash were chopping, lopping or slashing the blackberry invaders while Anita and Ash raked away the cuttings.

The cherry on a cake was that all the activity was observed through the lens of photographer Laura, who did a great job of not interrupting our tasks while capturing the spirit of GoodGym and the beauty of Horsenden Hill. We are hoping our part-time modelling gig today will help spread the word about GoodGym in the coming months. It will probably also disclose our soft spot for Horsenden pizza!

Inspired by today's task? Join the Horsenden session next month! Sign up now!

We rolled up our sleeves, pulled on wellies, finding the right size gloves at the shed and joined forces for another Green Task at Horsenden Farm today Saturday at 10am

Hedges trimmed, weeds cleared, and compost turned — the hilly aide of back of pizza oven now the flower plantation is looking greener and healthier thanks to all the helping hands. Muddy boots were the badge of honour by the end of it.

The team after the activity was introduced to the pigs snuffling happily for attention, and the chickens clucked around keeping everyone on their toes. Each creature added its own charm to the day. Speaking to Elsa and learning about the animals age and care was a whole new joy.

After the graft came the feast — wood-fired pizza, bubbling with melted cheese, plus refreshing craft beer brewed nearby. Farming energy in, foodie energy out!

The best harvest of the day? Friendship. Making friends with some new faces. Volunteers old and new shared laughs, swapped stories, and left with happy hearts (and maybe a little hay in their hair), Sevan and Steph felt very happy and playful working with hays stacks.

As always, the best part was the people — regulars and newcomers: Afshin and Thaiza working side by side, making a difference and having fun.

👉 I had to head off a little early to catch a family fun day festival (sorry Kash will make it up next time) 🎶, but the farm vibes and friendly faces definitely made my Saturday extra special.

Until next time — keep it green, keep it fun, and keep it Horsenden!

The first day of August brought a pretty solid team to Horsenden Farm, including a wave of new joiners: Rene, Laxmi, and Mairaj. Welcome to GoodGym Ealing - we hope you enjoyed your first task!

Worked on tasks, got along really well, supportive people all around, will attend more sessions. Very helpful and friendly team. - summarised Mairaj in his report

Elsa equipped us with wheelbarrows, shears, loppers, rakes, and even a slasher (which Steph Ducat quickly booked), then led us up Horsenden Hill to a place called Wells Meadows. The meadow was recently scythed, but it has not been raked yet. There was also a corner covered by a huge patch of brambles that, despite bearing delicious, ripe blackberries at that time of the year, were still considered undesirable plants. Our job was to clear the area so that Friends of Horsenden Hill could create a wildflower meadow.

Jamie’s and Gus’s cunning plan included cutting and eating their way to the most juicy blackberries. They found plenty of allies in their war against brambles: Ramona, Sevan, Steph, and, later on, Mairaj. Raking - which turned out to be more of a cardio workout than many may have expected - was handled mostly by Rene and Kash. Laxmi became a jack of all trades, raking, harvesting blackberries, and chopping brambles.

The session at Horsenden couldn’t be considered complete without bringing to life the slogan animals 🐮 + pizza 🍕 + craft beer 🍺. Even though we must admit that animals were hiding today, the GoodGymers didn’t have trouble finding the beer stall and the pizza oven.

What have the new GoodGymers learned today?

• GoodGymers can get quite competitive about the size of the brambles they pulled.
• Brambles produce blackberries.
• Brambles have thorns.
• Thorns scratch.
• Thick gloves protect you from thorns.
• Long trousers and sleeves also protect you from thorns (forget this one - even veteran GoodGymers never seem to learn that fact!).
• If you arrive late for the task, ask for the person with red hair.

We are back at Horsenden Farm next month, hoping for more animals, more new faces, and fewer scratches! Sign up now!

On a cloudy and refreshingly breezy Saturday morning, six GoodGymers and two new Horsenden volunteers met at the foot of Horsenden Hill to help with farm work. Among the GoodGymers, there were two new faces too: Jamie, who joined his third task, and Aislinn (Ash), the first-timer. Both made a grand first impression on the seasoned GoodGymers as open-minded and not scared of today's job: dealing with speciality woodchip! In Elsa's description of the task, there was a promise of a particular sensory profile: an aged barn floor with earthy ammonia undertones. We were in!

Elsa led us to one woodchip pile: crisp and woody, slightly dusty, but not offensive, with aromas of sawdust and dry bark. That sterile heap was to be loaded into wheelbarrows and dropped a few meters away at a larger pile of clean dry woodchip. Since nature abhors a vacuum, the empty space after eliminating that pile was going to be filled with experimental woodchip: the cow-resided kind, scraped diligently from the barnyard floor. It carried the aroma of decomposing hay funk with grassy, smoky and leathery notes. We were thrilled by its organic complexity, although it turned out to be much dustier and less rich than we had expected.

While Jamie, Ash, Gus, Steph Ducat and Kash were exploring the woodchip spectrum (and shovelling really hard for two hours!), Sevan found himself assisting Billy the Cat and one of the new volunteers in a highly precise task for very patient people: pulling messy bundles of chicken wire fencing from behind the barnyard and rolling them into neat, compact cylinders. Those who know Sevan will understand he was a suitable candidate for taking up slow-going, meticulous work. While the woodchip grind carried heavy physical and sensory load, the wire-rolling workout, accompanied by the calm, furry presence of Billy, was meant to build mental resilience.

With 12 pm on the dot and visible results achieved, the hardworking team clocked off to reward themselves with locally made pizza (including a new, limited veggie option), flatbreads, craft beer and speciality coffee. The well-deserved break was a perfect time to chat and get to know each other better.

Looking forward to another opportunity to join us for possibly the most rural experience in West London to have fun, work hard and try amazing baked goods afterwards? Meet us at Horsenden Farm in August!