The Broom House Farm is a family run farm situated high up in the Browney Valley overlooking Durham City (UK), County Durham, just 6 miles to the East. The brand new Finnish log cabin-style Broom House Farm Coffee Shop has a 240 m2 Sedum roof with solar panels utilizing a Firestone Rubbergard EPDM membrane. The Farm is open for family, school and educational visits to learn about a working farm, and has ammenities such as adventure trails, too. The owners’ website (see below) states, “Please come and have a look at our lovely light and bright new building with sedum living roof and bright pine interior. We are serving coffee, tea and light lunches every Wednesday – Sunday from 10:00am-5:00pm. Children may use the outside play area whilst you relax and watch them over your coffee!

“Broom House is really a livestock farm – although some arable crops such as barley, peas, triticale, lupins and broad beans are grown – with the aim of producing our own feed for the animals. We have a herd of beautiful Aberdeen Angus cattle, as well as a large flock of Lleyn sheep and an increasing herd of Saddleback pigs. All our animals are reared outside on grass pastures in the summer and in woods and straw barns during the muddiest winter months. We manage our livestock to the highest standards of welfare, with minimum use of medicines and bought in feeds and in October 2007 we will obtain full organic status for the farm. The whole farm has been entered into the Countryside Stewardship Scheme with the aim of conserving the landscape and improving conditions for wildlife on the farm. Some examples of our conservation work can be seen around the farm – we have restored haymeadows, sown beetle strips and made wildlife corridors, coppiced hedgerows, planted trees, restored ponds and rebuilt stone walls. Even in the few years that we have been here we have noticed an increase in curlews, brown hares, partridge and lapwing.”