A FUNDRAISER who set out to walk 250 miles home from Lower Treginnis Farm for City Children has doubled his fundraising target.

This summer Nick Gammage set off from the farm near St Davids with the aim of retracing the old Drover's Trail and raising £2,500 for Farms for City Children.

The charity was founded by War Horse writer and Children's Laureate Michael Morpugo.

Like many others it has been hit by the cononavirus pandemic and its three farms, including Lower Tregginis near St Davids, forced to close their doors to inner city children who have been visiting for a week of muck and magic for decades.

Treginnis is planning to welcome its first group of children back this month, this is the first time children will have visited the farm since the first coronavirus lockdown.

"It is a wonderful charity which supports children from urban areas all over the UK to sample life on a farm," said Nick. "Many of the children have never seen a farm animal before."

"Farms For City Children has seen its income seriously hit by the Covid pandemic, which forced it to close temporarily its three farms to schools."

Nick has so far raised £5,000 for the charity by walking the ancient trail along the Golden Road over the Preseli Hills, crossing the River Wye and climbing over the Cotswolds and Chilterns, ending up at the drovers' road in Hollow Way Lane, Chesham Bois.

He said he would 'never forget the warmth of the welcome' he received in Pembrokeshire villages like Hermon, where residents turned out to support him and provided food and drink.

"My challenging trek, through hail storms and heatwaves, took me through remote mountain passes , along stunning river valleys and through now-silent villages which once buzzed with the hubbub of drovers and cattle markets," said Nick."

"My walk ended at my home, on an old drover's road on the way to those London markets, in Chesham Bois near Amersham in the Chiltern Hills.

"My goal was to find out what it must have been like for those tough old drovers taking around 200 cattle hundreds of miles through bleak terrain and wretched weather from West Wales to the livestock markets of the Midlands and Home Counties - and at the same time help a terrific charity whose income continues to be seriously hit by the impact of COVID restrictions.

"From day one my engines were constantly re-charged by seeing the stream of generous donations coming in - and which continue to come in - for Farms For City Children - and which continue to arrive. Thank you so much."

To support Nick's fundraising efforts, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/droverwalk.