Which came first, the chicken or the education centre? (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Which came first, the chicken or the education centre?

CHICKENS: possibly not the most exciting subject matter on which to base a visitor attraction, but nestled in the Honeybourne countryside is a new centre set to prove that statement wrong.

The Domestic Fowl Trust is home to 29-acres of pasture which provides habitation for more than 100 different breeds of chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys, some of the rarest British breeds of cow and some of the rarest breeds of sheep and goats.

Still not convinced? After more than 36 months of planning, eight months of arduous building work and a £100,000 chunk of government funding, through the Rural Enterprise Scheme, the new visitor centre and museum is ready to go and ready to change people's perceptions.

Locally we are set to gain an educational visitor centre, which has cost more than £250,000 in total to create, a museum and a farm, which will encourage rural and tourist spending helping to boost the local economy.

The Domestic Fowl Trust's philosophy is about education and enrichment of life.

Owner and qualified vet Bernadette Landshoff set up the trust in 1976 with husband Clive, and her daughter Emma is now the centre's manager.

"I worked in London for the PDSA and Clive was a dairy farmer in Sussex," she said.

"We've always been interested in rare breeds and when we got the opportunity to buy the farm and set this all up, we took it."

The original trust was set up in 1976 for the conservation of rare breeds of poultry and livestock and Bernadette is the key to the demanding project. Plans for the centre were first mooted in 2000 as a way to increase public awareness of poultry.

"It's been a long journey but we now have somewhere people can bring their children to learn all about chickens in a fun atmosphere."

She added: "Visitors can wander along the grass pathways to see breeding flocks, see the British bantams in their Tudor-style houses and bantams in their barns and feed the numbers of wild mallard and greylag geese, which fly in to join the fun."

She added: "During the season there are ducklings and chicks hatching each week and these can be seen in the barn. The new museum has a range of equipment from old incubators to vermin control devices and the 20 acres behind the centre houses fowl, duck, geese, turkeys bantams and rare breed farm animals."

Officially opened last month by author Katie Thear, the new centre also includes indoor and outdoor play areas for the children, a shop catering for those who keep or wish to keep domestic fowl, and a new tearoom, complete with chicken nuggets on the menu.