School children learned valuable lessons about food, nature and the life of the countryside during a visit to a Norfolk farming estate.

A group of pupils from Beccles Primary Academy - including many who had never visited a farm before - took a tour of the Gawdy Hall Estate near Harleston.

The estate in the Waveney Valley dates back to the 16th century, and was recently bought by the Courteenhall estate in Northamptonshire, which has set it on a path towards more "progressive" and environmentally-friendly agriculture.

That includes the introduction of a bi-crop of milling wheat and spring beans growing together in the same field for regenerative farming enterprise Wildfarmed.

The children were taken on a tractor and trailer ride to see animals in their natural habitat, fields growing oats and spring barley, wildflowers and bees.

They also had the chance to learn about farm machinery and meet the estate team.

Children from Beccles Primary Academy learned about farming during a visit to the Gawdy Hall Estate near HarlestonChildren from Beccles Primary Academy learned about farming during a visit to the Gawdy Hall Estate near Harleston (Image: Gawdy Hall Estate)

The trip was organised by the Country Trust, an educational charity which provides rural experiences for children who are least likely to have access to the countryside.

Sarah Davey, a farm discovery visit coordinator for the trust, said: "I'm really grateful to everyone at Gawdy Hall for making this visit possible. Without farmer hosts we cannot do this incredibly important work.

"We believe that every child should have the opportunity to visit a farm and discover first-hand the connections between the food they eat, their own health and the health of the planet."

Children from Beccles Primary Academy learned about farming during a visit to the Gawdy Hall Estate near HarlestonChildren from Beccles Primary Academy learned about farming during a visit to the Gawdy Hall Estate near Harleston (Image: Gawdy Hall Estate)

Year 4 class teacher Luke Galea-Pace said visiting Gawdy Hall was a "brilliant experience for our children".

Estate manager Mark Mayhew said: "We love welcoming school children to the estate and showing them the important work we do here.

"It was a particularly special day as there were lots of hares in one of the fields and the children did brilliantly to keep still and quiet so they came very close to us."