Ireland's famous Causey Farm is home to more than 10 special experiential activities such as learning the traditional Irish dance Céilí, playing tambourine, jumping in the marshland, watching sheepdogs herding sheep, making traditional Irish soda bread, and making straw ropes, as well as a variety of special experiential activities such as bridal parties, team building experiences, and primary and secondary education experiences. Cowsey Farm is one of Ireland's most popular school destinations for its rich research and learning activities, popular with adventurers for Ireland's largest Halloween horror experience, and famous for its traditional Irish village life experience for all ages.
First, the general situation of the farm
Cowsey Farm is located in Fordstown, Meath, Dublin, Ireland, about 70 kilometres from Dublin. The nearest town is Kells, just off the M3 motorway, with daily shuttle buses running from Dublin to Kellstown. It is about a 10-minute drive from the town of Kells to Cousi Farm, and the transportation is relatively convenient.
COWHI FARMS IS A FAMILY FARM RUN BY THE MURTAGH FAMILY. More than 1,000 years ago, the Mertta family was the chief of Meath County, and lived here through plagues, famines, and natural disasters. Today, they run the 300-acre farm.
Cowsey Farm has long bred Belclere ewes, an Irish breed known for its high lamb yields, which are lambed during the Spring Festival and sold to the French market in the summer, and winter and spring wheat in the winter and spring, as well as crops such as kale, sugar beets and turnips.
More than 20 years ago, local schools visited Kausi Farm during Urban-Rural Week, and the farm was inspired to expand its children's play program. Over the years, the original children's entertainment has expanded to include agricultural and cultural experiences for all ages.
Second, the experience products of the farm
1. Make Irish soda bread
The first thing to do on the farm is to experience making Irish soda bread, which requires 1.5 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of wheat flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of bread soda, 1 egg, 3/4 cup buttermilk, and 1 spoonful of butter. After the baker explains the process of making bread and distributes the ingredients and utensils, the visitors tie their aprons, follow the procedure to lubricate the bread box with butter, and stir the wheat flour, flour, salt and soda water in a mixing basin to let in the air to keep the bread soft. Then add the eggs and milk, mix the dough with a wooden spoon, and finally pour the stirred dough into a bread box with a small flag with your name on it and put it in the oven. It takes about 25-30 minutes to bake, but visitors don't have to wait here, they can go out and explore the farm and come back to taste the fresh bread they have made.
2. Visit the farm
Visitors can visit the farm by tractor, watch and interact with animals such as sheep, alpacas, donkeys, horses, pigs, chickens, geese, rabbits, and sheepdogs, and participate in experiential activities such as milking cows and catching roosters.
3. Watch the sheepdog show
The sheep were grazing leisurely on the green pasture, and the owner gave an order, and two sheepdogs quickly came to the side of the sheep and squatted down to spy on the movements of the sheep. Seeing the shepherd dogs, the sheep scattered in the pasture quickly approached and gathered together. The shepherd signals the sheepdog to drive the sheep to another sheepfold, and the sheepdog listens to the command and walks slowly towards the sheep, and when they reach a certain distance, the sheep begin to run around, and the two sheepdogs outflank the sheep left and right, forcing the sheep to change direction. The shepherd dog intercepts and drives the sheep in a certain direction, and the sheep gather and disperse, scatter and gather, and after several repetitions, successfully drive the sheep from the edge of the pasture to the designated sheepfold. The whole process is very ornamental and very popular with tourists. After the show, visitors can take photos with the shepherds and shepherds.
4. Experience the Irish tambourine
Bodhrán is a type of tambourine originating in Ireland, mostly used to play Celtic traditional music, usually in a seated position, with the drum standing on one side of the body's thigh, hitting the drum with the drumstick or hand, and reaching the back of the drum skin with the other hand to control the volume and timbre. In a converted barn, the guide explains how to hold a drum in his left hand and a stick in his right hand, and demonstrates three or four styles of beating the drum, which visitors can practice as they go. Visitors who come here for team building can also compete in groups.
5. Experience the Seri dance
The Cylie is a traditional Irish folk dance that used to be a wedding dance, but is no longer used. Under the demonstration and guidance of the tour guide, 2-4 people hold hands in a circle, accompanied by the rhythm of the music or the beating of the front or back, constantly changing the route and position, participating in it, you can feel the vitality of youth.
6、体验雨靴投掷（Wellie Throwing）
There are many tires and rain boots scattered on the grass, and visitors can experience throwing the rain boots into the farthest tire.
7. Experience swamp jumping
Take a tractor ride to the marshland next to the farm and learn about the process of the swamp formation. After changing into a change of clothes, you can run from the grass at the edge of the swamp and jump into the swamp pond to get in touch with the dirt. The best way to jump is to put your legs in front of you and land your butt on the ground, which is easier to come out, but if you jump straight down, most of your body will fall into a swamp and need the help of others to get out.
8. Experience weaving straw ropes
Visitors can experience making straw ropes from the most common straw around the farm, and experience skipping ropes with their own straw ropes. In a group experience, the longest and strongest straw rope is rewarded for the allotted time.
9. Mural graffiti experience
Visitors can graffiti and paint on the walls of the farm's barn, showing off their artistic talents. Team building visitors, each group can paint a mural on the wall of the farm barn as a team building theme. As a member of the bridal party, you can draw the bride's life story and good wishes on the wall.
10. Food experience
In addition to tasting your own soda bread, the farm also offers Irish stew, Cousie Farm soup, scones, mince pies, chocolate chip cookies, dips and other specialties.
3. Product operation of the farm
Based on the above experiential activities, Kaoxi Farm has developed three group visitor experience package products based on the characteristics of group customers, namely: HEN PARTIES, team building and Educational Tours.
1. Bridal party
Bride-to-be parties are a cultural tradition in Europe that only single ladies attend. The farm is available for parties of 10-50 people. Organized by the farm owner and guide, take part in activities such as bread making, dancing a serlie, catching roosters in the chicken coop, making a memory wall for the bride-to-be, and bog jumping. The party is charged per person and costs €40 per person and includes tea and scones.
2. Team building
Team building and recreation are markets that the farm has been focusing on for nearly 20 years. For team building visitors, many experiential programs are given the content of competitions. For example, the bread-making experience will be scored by color, taste, etc.; in the sheep herding experience project, each team needs to drive the sheep through an obstacle and door within a certain period of time, and then enter the sheepfold, and the shortest time will get corresponding points; in the milking project, the team that first milks 1 cup of milk wins. In addition, there is a live performance project, where team members need to use the production and living utensils of the farm as props for a 5-minute live talent show. Cyree dance performances and Boslan drum performances are also competitions, and the farm's professional guides act as judges for evaluation. These items cost 40 euros per person.
In addition, there are a number of separately charged group experience programs:
The Goose Stop is a 2-hour team project. The story is set in a country where there is a bird flu and a goose that lays golden eggs needs to be safely transferred, and the team needs to solve puzzles according to the clues provided to find the goose that lays golden eggs and bring it to a safe place, this activity is 40 euros per person.
3. Educational journey
Since 1998, Kaoxi Farm has developed an educational experience program that has been very popular with primary and secondary school students. Depending on the age group of the students, the farm offers a variety of experience product packages.
(1) Farm tour for elementary school students
The Elementary School Experience Tour requires 18 students and lasts approximately 3.5 hours. Participating children are required to wear old clothes and shoes, bring a change of clothes, and be accompanied and supervised by a teacher. Under the guidance of the guide, children learn about the flora and fauna of the farm, take a tour of the farm on a tractor, challenge dominoes, walk through the mine tunnel (a man-made simulation device), blow giant soap bubbles, experience the mirror maze, challenge the swamp and more.
Walk through the mine tunnels
Mirror maze
(2) Farm experience tour for middle school students
In addition to the existing experience program on the farm, there is also a geographical field trip program for junior high school students. The farm introduces students to the work of the farm, presents the output of the farm, and provides a research and study document. The document contains a lot of questions that can be asked by the children, and after a morning visit, the children can find the answers to these questions and complete the internship report, which will be awarded a junior internship certificate.
Fourth, the activities of the farm
The farm has developed a variety of fun activities such as Christmas, Barn Festival, summer camp, Halloween Fear Experience, etc., which are very popular with tourists.
1. Christmas activities
The Christmas activities at Kausi Farm are very popular with children, and the farm is decorated with rich Christmas scenes, such as Santa's home, Santa's living room, Christmas cottage, post office, etc. The experience included a visit to Santa's home and helping Mrs. Claus. Claus, Santa's wife) packs his bags, enters the toy room to experience Santa's prepared toys, visits the Christmas hut, reindeer watching, and more, for 1.5 hours.
2. Summer camp activities
Cousey Farm Summer Camp has been in operation for 12 years and is specially tailored for children aged 6-13 and runs from July to August each year. Children will experience skills in outdoor survival, farming activities, household chores, and more during the 4-day camp.
The summer camp includes more than 10 fun and exploratory activities, such as: follow the guide to the forest on the edge of the farm according to the set secret signs, and then the children rely on their wits to return to the camp, blow giant bubbles in creative workshops, learn to play Boslan drums, graffiti on the wall, Play giant dominoes, build small dams along the creek that runs through the farm, feed pigs and other critters, walk through mine tunnels, harvest hay, make traditional soda bread and chocolate cake, learn about swamp science and swamp jumping, learn how to live in the wild, cook and participate in a scavenger hunt, and more.
3、谷仓节（4 Barns Festival）
Spread across four barns at Kausi Farm, the Barn Festival is an event with live classical music, each with a different theme, held in the evening.
5. Case summary
1. Diversified products to create a rich experience. Relying on its own and surrounding resources, Kaoxi Farm has developed agricultural, traditional culture and ecological experience products to meet the experience needs of customers of all ages. From the individual items, each one seems to be very ordinary, but when combined, it is very interesting.
2. Professional operation to improve business efficiency. There are several points worth learning from in the operation of Kaoxi Farm: First, the customer group is segmented, and the farm pays great attention to the development of group customer groups. For different group groups, different experience packages are formulated and matched with corresponding professional tour guides to enhance the experience of tourists. The second is to link external resources, the farm does not have accommodation facilities, and through cooperation with surrounding hotels and B&Bs, it can meet the needs of tourists for accommodation. At the same time, the farmer himself has a manor house in the neighboring town of Kells called Rockfield, where large group activities, lodging, and indoor play are mainly held. Through the linkage between Kaoxi farm and manor, the value of resources is maximized.