1Welcome to Green Vale Agricultural Park.
2As you know, we have only been open a week,
3so you are amongst our first visitors.
4We have lots of fascinating indoor and outdoor exhibits on our huge complex, spreading hundreds of hectares.
5Our remit is to give educational opportunities to the wider public
6as well as to offer research sites for a wide variety of agriculturists and other scientists.
7Let's start by seeing what there is to do.
8As you can see here on our giant wall plan,
9we are now situated in the Reception block... here.
10As you walk out of the main door into the park,
11there's a path you can follow.
12If you follow this route,
13you will immediately come into the Rare Breeds section,
14where we keep a wide variety of animals
15which I shall be telling you a little more about later.
16Next to this... moving east... is the large grazing area for the rare breeds.
17Then further east... in the largest section of our Park is the Forest Area.
18South of the grazing area, and in fact, just next to the Reception block is our Experimental Crop Area.
19In the middle of the Park... this circular area is our lake...
20These two small rectangular shapes here...
21are the Fish Farms where we rear fish for sale.
22To the east of those is the marsh area,
23which attracts a great many migrant birds
24In the south-eastern corner, beyond the marsh,
25is our Market Garden area, growing vegetables and flowers.
26All these areas can be visited by the general public for almost all the year...
27although... please take note of the large signs at the entrance to each area
28which tell you when certain areas are being used for particular controlled experiments
29and are therefore temporarily out of bounds to the public.
30You can see for yourself what a huge area the park covers
31and a key question is always, how can we move around?
32Well you have a choice of means...
33all environmentally friendly...
34cars are banned in the park.
35We have bicycles which you can hire behind the Reception block... here...
36the healthy ones of you can go on foot
37and finally there's our electric tram, powered from solar cells.
38You find more information about this at the front entrance.
39A good place to start on your tour is the Rare Breeds section.
40We keep goats, sheep and hens and other kinds of poultry.
41We are also thinking of bringing in cows and horses
42but we do not, as yet, have facilities for these bigger animals.
43The animals are fed in public twice a day
44and a short lecture given on their feeding habits and nutritional needs.
45These are very popular with the public but...
46of course we mustn't lose sight of the main purpose of having this section,
47not as such to preserve rare animals but to maintain the diversity of breeds
48to broaden the gene pool for agricultural development.
49Green Vale changes with the seasons with different events happening at different times of the year.
50May will be perhaps our most spectacular month with the arrival of the Canada geese
51and when our fruit trees will be in full blossom,
52but there are interesting events on all year round....
53for example John Havers, our expert fly fisherman, is currently giving displays on the lake.
54Each of the sections has its own seasonal calendar...
55please consult the summary board at the main entrance.
56And the final section, as we return to the Reception blocks, is the orchard.
57Do take time to browse round our shop...
58there's a wide selection of books on wildlife,
59some of them written by local authors,
60and the history of farming, including organic farming,
61something which the park will be diversifying into in the coming months.