A farm near Stevenage that helps people with learning difficulties has been burgled overnight, and its owners are appealing for folk to rally around them in their hour of need.

The manager of Church Farm in Ardeley discovered the rural site had been burgled this morning. Thieves had broken into the shop, café and offices during the night and taken laptops, meat and £400 in cash.

Owner Tim Waygood told the Comet: “My staff and I feel we’ve been violated.

“It’s pretty dispiriting to try to keep your head above water and then have something like this hit you.

“We seem to have something happen every year. Last year we had our electric fences and batteries stolen from the fields.

“If anyone’s been offered laptops or meat for sale – legs of lamb or steaks – they may have come from here.

“Really we’d just like to appeal for people to visit the farm and support us in that way.

“We’re a community interest firm so we have to trade to get by – we don’t survive on grants, we survive on trade. We look after a lot of people with learning difficulties on the farm as well.

“There’s a lot of local people who’ve come here over the years, and it’d be great if they could come again.”

Anyone with information or who saw anything suspicious in the area between 6.30pm on Tuesday and 7.30am on Wednesday is asked to contact the police on the non-emergency number 101, quoting crime reference A5/16/99.

The farm is open seven days a week from 9am to 5pm. For more details visit churchfarmardeley.co.uk.