THE COUNTRY TRUST

Registered charity 1122103 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

To bring food, farming and the working countryside alive for those children least able to access it whether through disadvantage or disability. We do this through Farm Discovery day visits to real working farms throughout England and North Wales, Farm in a Box, Countryside Discovery residentials and yearlong Food Discovery programmes where children discover growing, cooking and even selling food.

Causes: Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£1.8m
Latest spending
£1.6m
Registered
2007
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity finished the year with a surplus, resulting in total reserves of £810,980, comprising £640,176 in unrestricted funds. Per the trustees' report, this surplus enabled the building of a small operating reserve to pilot bridging timing gaps between funding receipt and activity delivery. The charity reports no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £60,001 - £70,000 — below the median for charities its size (£70k)
“The number of employees whose emoluments fell within the following bands was: 2025 No £60,001 - £70,000 1” — page 51
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Employees paid over £60,000: 1
“The number of employees whose emoluments fell within the following bands was: 2025 No £60,001 - £70,000 1” — page 51
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Largest income source: Charitable trusts and foundations (56% of income)
“In 2025, approximately 57% of our income came from charitable trusts and foundations” — page 35
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: 3-4.5 months of operating reserves (held: £640k)
“Trustees operate a RAG approach to assessing reserves with a green zone of between 3-4.5 months of operating reserves. Based on our expenditure budget for 2026 this would indicate a reserves level of approximately £461,250-£691,875.” — page 35
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Edmund Carr LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

Official officers record.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Total income
£1.8m
Total spending
£1.6m
Cost of raising funds
£134k
Reserves (reported)
£640k
Employees
14

Reported reserves equal ~5.0 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (92% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 7.3% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/12/2025£1.8m£1.6m
31/12/2024£1.5m£1.6m
31/12/2023£1.4m£1.4m
31/12/2022£1.2m£1.4m
31/12/2021£993k£967k

Common questions

Is THE COUNTRY TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity finished the year with a surplus, resulting in total reserves of £810,980, comprising £640,176 in unrestricted funds. Per the trustees' report, this surplus enabled the building of a small operating reserve to pilot bridging timing gaps between funding receipt and activity delivery. The charity reports no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Edmund Carr LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of THE COUNTRY TRUST earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £60,001 - £70,000 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

Who funds THE COUNTRY TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE COUNTRY TRUST as a grant recipient include THE DULVERTON TRUST, THE WESTMINSTER FOUNDATION, THE HISCOX FOUNDATION, THE LINBURY TRUST, THE WHELER FOUNDATION.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
THE DULVERTON TRUSTFY2026£200kCore Costs
THE DULVERTON TRUSTFY2024£195kFunding for core programmes Phase one of the learning village
THE WESTMINSTER FOUNDATIONFY2021£190kFunding is allocated to The Pledge Partnership, which enables businesses to work together with educators.
THE WESTMINSTER FOUNDATIONFY2025£190kCore costs towards The Country Trust’s mission to bring food, farming and the countryside alive for disadvantaged children, through farm visits and education.
THE WESTMINSTER FOUNDATIONFY2022£120kCore costs to bring food, farming and the countryside alive for disadvantaged children.
THE HISCOX FOUNDATIONFY2022£100k
THE WESTMINSTER FOUNDATIONFY2023£100kFunding for core costs of the Country Trust’s mission to bring food, farming and the countryside alive for disadvantaged children, through farm visits and educa
THE HISCOX FOUNDATIONFY2023£60k
THE LINBURY TRUSTFY2025£50kCore funding towards its IT function and impact measurement.
THE WHELER FOUNDATIONFY2022£50k
THE AURORA TRUSTFY2024£40kCore costs
THE AIM FOUNDATIONFY2025£30kEarly Childhood
THE AURORA TRUSTFY2022£30kTowards core costs to enable The Country Trust to explore how to scale its impact, improve the evidence base of outdoor education and improve its basic infrastr
THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEMEFY2024£25kGardens and Health payment
THE GIRDLERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£25kSelected Appeals
THE MERCERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2022£25kYoung People & Education Programme
THE GIRDLERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£22k
THE GIRDLERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£20k
THE GIRDLERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£20k
PEACOCK CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£20k
Norwich Freemen's CharityFY2026£17kA food discovery programme for disadvantaged children
THE CLARKSON FOUNDATIONFY2023£14k
ANGUISH'S EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONFY2026£14kA food discovery programme for primary school children growing, cooking, tasting, selling.
D C R ALLEN CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£12k
THE 29TH MAY 1961 CHARITYFY2022£12kcosts of educational visits to the countryside for young children from inner city areas
ANGUISH'S EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONFY2025£10kFood discovery programme for disadvantaged children
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£10k
THE JOHN AND PAMELA SALTER CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£10k
THE AIM FOUNDATIONFY2023£10kFamily Fund
D C R ALLEN CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£10k
The Keith Howard FoundationFY2025£10kAnimals
The Merchant Taylors' FoundationFY2022£10kOther
ST. NICHOLAS' EDUCATIONAL TRUSTFY2025£7kGrants made in the furtherance of the education of young people
CLA CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£7k
PEACOCK CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£7k
PEACOCK CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£7k
CLA CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£7k
CLA CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£7k
CHARLES S FRENCH CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£5k
PILKINGTON CHARITIES FUNDFY2025£5k
THE W A HANDLEY CHARITY TRUSTFY2023£5kOne-off grants - Environment & Animal Care
THE JOHN COATES CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£5k
CHARLES S FRENCH CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£5k
THE EARL FITZWILLIAM CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£5k
THE JOHN COATES CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£5k
CHARLES S FRENCH CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£5k
PILKINGTON CHARITIES FUNDFY2024£5k
THE NINEVEH CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£5k
HAYS TRAVEL FOUNDATIONFY2024£5k
THE HISCOX FOUNDATIONFY2024£5k

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

FunderDateAmountPurpose
Community Foundation North East22/01/2026£1kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East17/07/2025£5kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East19/06/2025£5kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East20/02/2025£1kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East23/01/2025£1kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East20/06/2024£5kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East18/04/2024£2kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East26/01/2023£1kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East12/01/2023£750Grant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East03/11/2022£2kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East07/04/2022£2kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East03/02/2022£1kA grant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East20/01/2022£750A grant to The Country Trust
The Mercers' Company04/04/2019£72kGrant to The Country Trust
Community Foundation North East23/11/2018£520School visit to Broxfield Farm
City Bridge Foundation25/09/2014£15kGrant to The Country Trust
Northern Rock Foundation27/04/2007£10kGrant awarded to The Country Trust (North East)

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE CHILDREN'S ADVENTURE FARM TRUST LTD.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
THE COUNTRY TRUST£1.8m£60,001 - £70,0001unclear—no doubt
THE CHILDREN'S ADVENTURE FARM TRUST LTD FY2025£1.2m£70,000 - £80,0001above—no doubt
FARMS FOR CITY CHILDREN LIMITED FY2025£2.7m£60,000 - £70,0001within28.8%no doubt
REAL FARMING TRUST FY2025£930k—0within—no doubt
CLA CHARITABLE TRUST FY2025£288k—0above—no doubt
The Countryside Regeneration Trust FY2025£1.5m——above—no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.