The Royal Welsh Winter Fair provides the perfect and unique opportunity to show school children and college students the food chain from farm to fork.
The Winter Fair is unique to other Society events as it takes place during term time. Each year more schools and colleges are seeing the educational value of attending this event to learn about food production, the supply chain and agricultural organisations.
Touching on many aspects of the curriculum, a visit to the Winter Fair is a great opportunity for students to learn about agriculture in relation to business studies, cooking and nutrition, animal welfare, geography, mathematics and much more.
School & College Trips
School children and higher education students are welcomed and encouraged to come along to the Winter Fair. Sharing the knowledge around agriculture and how food is produced is vital and an initiative the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society is keen to get increasingly involved in.
The Winter Fair is FREE for primary and secondary school pupils, with a reduced £10 rate for higher education students. Schools, colleges, and universities must register their group visits by 14th November 2025.
Educational Programme
Each year, the Winter Fair delivers an educational programme centred on a different agricultural theme. This year’s focus is ‘Ein Bwyd / Our Food’, highlighting the importance of helping children understand where their food comes from and how it is produced.
Primary schools will have the chance to register their Year 5 and 6 pupils for a morning filled with a series of interactive workshops and Q&A sessions led by our partnered organisations and guest speakers.
Highlights for 2025:
- Live cooking demonstration with food wholesaler, Castell Howell
- Creative writing with writer & broadcaster, Myfanwy Alexander
- Interactive session on how our senses shape taste with The Big Science Project
For more information or to register your school, please follow the link below.
Follow the food chain
From seeing the animals in the rings, students will be able to take in the vast number of different breeds – whether it’s the cattle, sheep or pigs, there will be hundreds of different breeds on display. Chat to the farmers and exhibitors to find out what is involved with rearing the livestock.
Next, watch as the animals are prepared to be showed. See them in the rings and witness the judging process – what makes the perfect animal and who will take home the coveted rosette?
Then there is the livestock auctions on the Tuesday afternoon where hundreds of buyers vie to purchase the top exhibits.
A visit to the carcass hall will show the inquisitive students what the animals look like when they come out of the slaughter house. A variety of examples of carcasses will be on display with the opportunity to speak with professionals about what’s on show and where our popular joints of meat come from.
Next there are the butchery competitions and demonstrations where you will see examples of dressed poultry, sausages, bacon, burgers and other meat products on the two days of the fair.
Cookery demonstrations then show how the meat can be used in all sorts of dishes, from burgers, to stir-fries, from curries to bacon sandwiches… the possibilities are endless!
Then there is the finished product. In the Food Hall, students will see the end product for sale and on display – the perfect example of hours, days, weeks, sometimes years’ worth of effort from breeders, farmers, butchers and producers to bring us the food we all know and love.
Resources
Educational resources and activity sheets for primary aged children related around the topic of ‘Ein Bwyd / Our Food’ will be available at the Winter Fair and to download on the Twinkl website.