Burscough Community Farm CIC

Burscough Community Farm CIC Burscough Community Farm CIC is a Social Enterprise focusing on helping people's mental health by reconnecting them with Nature.

We are near Burscough in West Lancashire.

13/08/2026

Nearly a million people last year said work caused or worsened their stress, anxiety or depression. Behind every one of those numbers is a person who maybe stopped feeling like themselves. We see something different happen out here. People arrive carrying a lot, and something shifts. We’re opening the gates to local employers for two afternoons: a tour, lunch, and a conversation about how your business and this farm could work together. Thursday 20th & 27th August, 12:30–2pm. 12 places each. Come and stand in it, that’s the best way to understand
https://burscoughcommunityfarm.org/meet-the-farm/

07/08/2026

Workplace sickness costs the UK economy around £103 billion a year — and most of it traces back to stress, burnout and people quietly running on empty. It doesn’t have to be this way. We’re inviting local business owners to spend an afternoon with us at Burscough Community Farm: a guided tour, lunch, and a real conversation about how we could work together. Thursday 20th & 27th August, 12:30–2pm. Just 12 places per date. If you run a small business in the North West, come and see what we do. Link below.
https://burscoughcommunityfarm.org/meet-the-farm/
Lancashire TeamWellbeing CommunityFarm WellbeingAtWork NorthWest

25/07/2026

Every workplace says it wants resilient people — so it runs a resilience workshop. The research is quietly brutal about this: that’s not how resilience is built.

I’m Neil Hickson, Burscough Community Farm. A government evidence review on children and nature makes a point that holds at every age: resilience isn’t taught by instruction — it develops when someone meets a manageable challenge, takes a controlled risk, and discovers they can cope. A child balancing on a log learns more than one told to ‘be careful.’

We’ve built workplaces that remove every log, then wonder why people are fragile under pressure. On the farm we put the logs back — real tasks with a real edge — and people surprise themselves. That surprise is the raw material of resilience. There’s no slide for it.

Want people who bend instead of break? Let’s talk.

Sources:
Alla & Truong (2024), Nature play and child wellbeing — AIFS (risk & resilience): https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/nature-play-and-child-wellbeing
Brussoni et al. (2015), risky outdoor play & health — systematic review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4483710/

17/07/2026

If you grew up mostly indoors, this might explain why you can’t switch off as an adult. Researchers say ours is the most indoor generation in history — and the early years are when you learn, in your body, that nature can calm you. If you never really got that as a kid, no wonder rest feels hard. That’s not a flaw in you, it’s a gap in what you were given. I’m Neil from Burscough Community Farm, and I see adults rediscover this all the time. You can still learn it: ten minutes outside today, no phone. Just notice.

Sources:
Nature play and child wellbeing — AIFS (2024): https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/nature-play-and-child-wellbeing

14/07/2026

Is one word getting in the way?

At the farm, we’ve always talked about “volunteering” — but I’ve started to wonder if that word is quietly putting people off before they ever set foot on the field.

When I say volunteering, I mean: come along, do what you feel like. Stay an hour or stay four. Dig a ditch, sow some seeds, or just sit and do a bit of craft. No rota. No commitment. No guilt about missing a week. You do as much as you want, and you leave with a clearer head, a bit of a workout, and some community.

But that’s not what the word means to everyone. To a lot of people, “volunteering” sounds like work — something you sign up for and feel bad about skipping. And a comment on social media made me realise this might be exactly why we see more people midweek than on a Saturday.

So I want to change the conversation, and I need your help. Two questions, and I’m reading every reply:

1. When I say “volunteering,” what does that word mean to you? Be honest.
2. What should we call it instead? Farm sessions? Outdoor sessions? Wellbeing sessions? Something we haven’t thought of?

Because it was never really about work or commitment. It was always just a few hours on the land, out in nature, doing what you can and feeling better for it.

Tell me what you’d call it. The best suggestion might just become the new name.

GreenSocialPrescribing

13/07/2026

There’s now a clinical term for getting your hands in the soil: ‘social and therapeutic horticulture’ — and it’s recognised as a green social prescribing modality, linked directly to NHS frameworks (Chartered Institute of Horticulture, 2026). Peer-reviewed research has found therapeutic community gardening improves wellbeing, sense of meaning, self-worth and social connectedness for people experiencing mental ill health (PMC / NIH).

I’m Neil from Burscough Community Farm. None of this surprised me — I’ve watched it for 12 years. When you tend something growing, your attention has somewhere gentle to rest, the churn quiets, and you’re useful and outside without performing for anyone.

The thing that helps may be simpler and cheaper than you’ve been told. Soil, a small task, a bit of time. We’ve got all three — open sessions Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Nature is the teacher. The farm is the therapy.

Sources:
Chartered Institute of Horticulture — Social & Therapeutic Horticulture: https://www.horticulture.org.uk/sth-green-social-prescribing/
PMC / NIH — Therapeutic Community Gardening as Green Social Prescription: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9603302/

12/07/2026

The government has started using a phrase worth hearing: ‘good work is a health outcome.’ A new Workplace Health Intelligence Unit, launching in 2026, exists to prove with data that good work is measurably good for you — and bad work measurably isn’t (Keep Britain Working, 2026).

Most of us already know this in our bodies — the job that hollowed us out, the Sunday-night dread. I’m Neil from Burscough Community Farm, and I’ve watched people rediscover what good work feels like: work you can see the result of, that tires you in a good way, that matters to someone.

If work has been draining you, it’s worth knowing work can also restore you. It depends entirely on what kind. Come and feel the difference — open sessions Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Nature is the teacher. The farm is the therapy.

Source:
GOV.UK — Keep Britain Working March 2026 update: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keep-britain-working-review-updates/keep-britain-working-review-march-2026-update

11/07/2026

My last video about your GP prescribing time in nature went a bit mad — 22.5k views and one question kept coming up: “This sounds brilliant, but how do I actually get it?”
Here’s your answer. It’s called social prescribing, and you don’t need me, my farm, or even a GP appointment to access it.
In most areas you can ring your GP surgery and ask to speak to their social prescribing link worker — and often refer yourself. If that route doesn’t work, link workers also take referrals through pharmacies, job centres, housing associations and community organisations. There are now over 3,500 of them across the country. There’ll be one near you.
Your homework: ring your surgery, ask for the social prescribing link worker, and say “what’s available near me?”
Local to the North West? Find me at burscoughcommunityfarm.org
I’m Neil from Burscough Community Farm. Nature is the teacher, the farm is the therapy.

07/07/2026

Did you know your GP can now prescribe you time in nature — not a pill, a place? There are now more than 3,300 social prescribing link workers across the NHS in England, with a goal of referring nearly a million people a year to community activities like ours (NHS England, 2026).

I’m Neil from Burscough Community Farm. People reach us three ways — GP referral, through their employer, or simply finding us themselves. If you’re on a waiting list thinking that’s your only option, it isn’t. This pathway is free at the point of use and part of the NHS now.

You’re allowed to ask for it. Or skip the wait and come to an open session — Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday.

Nature is the teacher. The farm is the therapy.

Source:
NHS England — Social prescribing link workers: https://www.england.nhs.uk/personalisedcare/workforce-and-training/social-prescribing-link-workers/

Address

Meadow Lane, Burscough
Ormskirk
L404BB

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 2pm
Thursday 10am - 2pm
Sunday 10am - 2pm

Telephone

07803925446

Website

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