5 intrepid Barnet Good Gymers, including one newbie (lovely to meet you Emma!) managed to find Sweet Tree Farm nestled in what felt like the middle of the countryside, in Mill Hill. Some of us even ran there, and it turns out there's a reason it's called Mill HILL!

Sweet Tree Farm is part of Care Farming, and it provides people with disabilities, mental health problems and ex-offenders with an opportunity to get out in a natural environment, care for animals, build their skills and confidence and contribute to the local community.

Poor Pennie had sprained her ankle, but she planned a fun-filled route around the farm for us! Hazel and I led the way for two laps, including jumping through tyres, flipping a tractor tyre, walking the balance beam and navigating the brambles. John narrowly escaped joining Pennie on the bench but we all enjoyed the added excitement in our run and Dorian won extra kudos for flipping the tyre multiple times!

Jude (Hey Jude! We heard you ran 12 marathons last year - you kept that quiet!), the farmer kindly made us tea and told us a bit about the work of the farm whilst we met Lord Vader the cat, who was supposedly feral but seemed to enjoy a fuss from Hazel.

Having worked up a sweat in our run, we set to work shifting scrap materials out of the way, tidying storage boxes and finally laying fresh woodchip in the work area. With it all neat, tidy and safe underfoot, the area is now ready for the farmers coming next week.

Of course, no Barnet Mission would be complete without a Barnet Biscuit and today's were excellent chocolate chip cookies, kindly provided by Pennie!

Heather