September's sketching outing to Freightliners Farm

Six artists gathered at Freightliners Farm last Friday to try and depict the ducks, goats, sheep and cows that were constantly on the move in this working farm that began life in 1973 on waste land behind Kings Cross station. The animals were originally housed in railway goods vans so hence the name, Freightliners Farm. The farm moved to its present site near Liverpool Road in 1978 and the new purpose-built farm buildings were erected in 1988.

The weather was glorious for our last outside location of the year and we all agreed that we needed plenty of time to adjust to try and sketch the livestock. We made full use of the Strawbale Café at lunch time and later on for tea and cake and this gave us time to chat and exchange news and we agreed that this would be a great location to return to, either individually or as a group, in the future.

Our next outing is on Friday 25 September

Our September sketching outing is to Freightliner's Farm and we plan to meet at 11am. This is a small city farm in Sheringham Road, London N7 8PF. It is just off Liverpool Road and is within walking distance of both Highbury & Islington and Holloway Road stations.

We have been warmly welcomed by the good people who run the place but we have been asked to spread ourselves around the farm and not clump together so that we can avoid disturbing the general running of the farm.

The farm has a café which is very popular and often gets crowded so we may have to stagger our lunchtimes. There are public lavatories on the site and there is some seating but we advise that you bring your own sketching stool to sit on so as to move around the farm.

This may well be the last time this year that we have an outside venue to explore, due to the weather becoming chillier, and the constant movement and sounds of the animals should ensure that we have an interesting and diverting day.