College Farm

College Farm driveway

College Farm, a city farm and visitor attraction, is the last farm in Finchley, London. It is located in Regents Park Road, close to Henlys Corner. In 1868 George Barham, founder of Express Dairies, leased Sheephouse Farm, a property of about 97 acres (390,000 m²) in Finchley. In 1882/83 he had it rebuilt by Fredrick Chancellor as a model dairy farm, renaming it College Farm after the nearby Christ's College Finchley.

By the 1900s the company believed that the farm was not viable as a real farm, so it was decided to adapt it to become a visitor attraction in 1909, buying out the lease on the property of the farm buildings, and retaining a handful of the adjacent fields from the original estate. By the 1930s the residue of the farm was surrounded by houses, and was open to the public, with tea rooms and an exhibition of objects related to the dairy industry. In 1973 the Express Dairy company left the site, and the dairy museum was broken up.

In 1974 the Department of the Environment purchased the estate with the intention of giving it to the London Borough of Barnet in exchange for open land at Henlys Corner needed for a flyover (which was never built). The farm was leased by Chris and Jane Ower, who ran it successfully as a popular local attraction from 1980 until February 2001, when due to the foot and mouth restriction meant the site had to be closed. Chris Ower, with the support of some local residents and friends of the farm, set up the College Farm Trust in 2004 with the intention of re-establishing it as a visitor centre. The Trust now owns the whole site and is currently working hard to raise the funds to reopen to the public. It currently trades as an equestrian and pet store.

College Farm is a Local Nature Reserve.

Coordinates: 51°35′35″N 0°12′07″W / 51.593°N 0.202°W / 51.593; -0.202

See also

• Nature reserves in Barnet