AN INITIATIVE enabling city children to spend a week on a farm has been awarded Rural Enterprise of the Year in the Country Life Awards.

Farms for City Children, which has a farm in Iddesleigh, is one of the winners in the nation-wide competition to highlight the role of enterprising individuals and businesses in the countryside.

Founded by children's author Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare in 1976, Farms for City Children offers young people from cities and towns the opportunity to live and work on a farm for a week and learn where their food comes from.

The charity is aimed at young people from 8 to 14 and recognises the benefits of outside learning. It teaches all aspects of agriculture from looking after animals to crop rotation. Local artists and craftsmen work with the children to develop their creative skills.

Farms for City Children attracts over 3,000 children a year, and is run entirely on donations and fundraising.

The award winners were chosen by a panel of judges, which included Viscount Linley, the Duchess of Devonshire and Mark Price, the managing director of Waitrose.

Mark Hedges, editor of Country Life magazine, said: 'Our glorious countryside has produced some extraordinary people who are dedicated to preserving the rural way of life. The Country Life Awards celebrate this admirable spirit.'

Mark Price, managing director of Waitrose, sponsors of the award, said: 'Our winners are the unsung heroes who are doing their best to ensure our rural heritage continues and that local distinctiveness flourishes.'