Maiden Castle Farm Sunflower Trail raises thousands for DCH

The jaw-dropping Maiden Castle Farm Sunflower Trail can be found at the site in Dorchester during the summer and is created by the Hoskin family who have an extra special link to the SCBU.

Hazel and Richard Hoskin donated an amazing £15,400 from last year’s sunflower trail to the cause, bringing the overall amount that they have raised for the unit since 2021 to nearly £47,000.

Bees at the sunflower trail (Image: Hollie Carr)

SCBU Matron Debora Pascoal Horta said: “We are so grateful to Hazel and her family for this amazing donation – one of the ideas is to use the money to help refurbish the family rooms on the unit.

“We want to create an en-suite bathroom so that families staying overnight with their children have access to private facilities – this would make a real difference to them at a very difficult time.”

Hazel in the Sunflowers (Image: BNPS)

The unit holds an important place in Hazel’s heart because her son was born premature at just 26 weeks, and they ended up staying in SCBU for two and a half months before being given the all-clear to go home.

Her younger son was also born eight-weeks early and ended up spending time in the unit as well.

Hazel Hoskin (Image: Hollie Carr)

Hazel said: “If it wasn’t for the Special Care Baby Unit they wouldn’t be here.”

She added that her sons were ‘happy’ and ‘smiley’ and that ‘it’s the only thing you could ever wish for as a parent.

Hazel visited the hospital to present her cheque to staff from the SCBU, many of whom she knows personally from when her oldest son, Thomas, was treated there.

Hazel Hoskin (third from left) with members of the Charity and SCBU Teams (Image: DCHFT)

Dorchester Town Council also took on the sunflower theme over the summer with many local businesses also contributing to the success of the event. 

Simon Pearson, head of charity at Dorset County Hospital, said: “This significant donation is the result of months of hard work by Hazel and everyone at Maiden Castle Farm for which we are extremely grateful.

“We would also like to extend our thanks to everyone who visited the Dorset Sunflower Trail, and to Dorchester Town Council and all the local businesses who also contributed to the success of this event.”

The sunflower trail (Image: Joseph Spencer)

Last year’s trails were breath-taking, and thousands of people visited the farm to enjoy the breath-taking views of around 750,000 sunflowers.

The sunflower trail (Image: Joseph Spencer)

Hazel is already planning this year’s sunflower spectacular in aid of the DCH Charity Emergency and Critical Care Appeal.

There were two trails that visitors can choose to venture down last year, a shorter one that followed the shape of the word ‘bee,’ or a much larger one that was shaped into an outline of a bee which could be seen when looking at the field from above.