The Kentish Town City Farm volunteers 

THERE’S a lot more to Kentish Town City Farm these days than the animals, wondrous as its goat Mimi and Betty the pig are. The project was set up in 1972 by a group of community gardeners – and more than 50 years on, its current custodians are getting back to those old roots.

Chair of trustees Angela Woods told me: “The farm is about a tonne more than seeing the animals. It is a proper educational resource. We are taking schools in and saying look, guess what you can eat here too. “We want to put an emphasis on the balance of what the animals have to offer and all these related things like wildlife, growing stuff, food production and getting people to understand more about wildlife and diversity.”

Last month, a garden boasting more than 500 plants that was once on show at Hampton Court Palace was bedded down by 30 volunteers in a space in the farm that became overrun by horseradish and weeds.

Garden designer Lauren Munton, who used to bring her now grown-up daughter to the farm when she was a child, was asked by the Royal Horticultural Society to find a new home for a display she had designed with her colleagues Deborah Anderson and John Tolman. It had been on show at the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, but was due to be broken up and thrown away this week.

Lauren Munton and her daughter Mimi

There are many perennial plants that means the garden – a collaboration between the designers company Three Leaves, the farm and the charity Permablitz London – will live on for many years to come.

The garden is part of a cultural shift at the farm that is focusing not just introducing its animals to city-living children, but also educating the people of Camden on nature and biodiversity.

The farm has been making do without its horses for 18 months after a railway tunnel wall was found to be unsafe and had to be rebuilt. Network Rail have said the works will not be complete for 12-18 months, meaning the riding area – a key source of income for the farm – has been out of action.

There are many programmes and courses at the farm, including Growing Club on Saturdays for budding young gardeners and a free gardening traineeship for 25 people each year.