Primary school children from Mid Wales have enjoyed an excursion on the scenic Heart of Wales Line to learn about food, history and the landscape with Grow Cook Learn at the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre.

The group of 35 children plus 4 supporting adults travelled the 1-hour journey by train from Llandrindod to Craven Arms, supported by Richard Whiting, Community Rail Officer from the Heart of Wales Line Community Rail Partnership (CRP).

The children, who attend Ysgol Trefonnen in Llandrindod Wells, have been attending the ‘Food and Fun’ School Holiday Enrichment Programme, a Welsh Government funded school-based education programme that provides food and nutrition education, physical activity, enrichment sessions and healthy meals to children during the school summer holidays.

Activities enjoyed by the pupils included access to the visitor exhibition, covering the history of the area, a tutor-led session on nutrition with food tasting, and an outdoor ‘word search’ challenge in the extensive ‘Onny Meadows’ at the Discovery Centre.

The trip was funded by Transport for Wales through rail tickets, the Heart of Wales Line CRP with a donation to the Discovery Centre, and Ysgol Trefonnen through the ‘Food and Fun’ Programme.

Richard Whiting, Community Rail Officer for the Heart of Wales Line CRP, said: “We were pleased to support pupils attending the ‘Food and Fun’ summer school at Ysgol Trefonnen with an activity which not only promoted rail travel as a more enjoyable and sustainable mode of transport, but that also connected communities and organisations through local produce, history and landscape.”

Following the event, 34 out of the 35 children completed a feedback survey. Out of the 34 children, 27 had been on a train before and 31 said they would go on a train again, with 21 children saying they preferred train travel to travelling by car.

Keep up to date with future projects and events from the Heart of Wales Line via their website.