Our day behind the scenes at the farm helping McDonald’s with London 2012 Olympic challenge

To celebrate its role in providing food for the athletes, organisers and spectators at the 2012 Olympic games, McDonald’s is opening up the farm gates to members of the public - and earlier this summer gave iVillage.co.uk readers the chance to go along! Marie-France Maguire, from Rugby, won a day out on a farm and a night away for her family. Here is her account of their visit to a lettuce farm in Chichester, one of the 17,500 British and Irish farms that supply the top quality ingredients which go into McDonald’s food.

'I was delighted when I got the message that we were chosen to go and see a farm near Chichester and stay the night over there. Living in the Midlands, we decided to go early the day before the visit and make the most of the seaside...and we did! As my partner couldn’t make it due to work, I went with three of my children who are 12, 4 and 2 years old.

After spending the night at the hotel, we were brought, along with another winning family, to the lettuce farm where we met the owner and a few people from McDonalds as well as Pippa Funnell (so impressive to meet an Olympic medallist, and she is so nice!). It was quite a learning experience and I wouldn’t have imagined that a visit to a field would be so interesting.

My parents were farmers so we are used to go to farms and see tractors but we were not prepared for the technology used and on what scale the lettuce are cultivated. I was most impressed by the fact that the machines are driven by GPS in order, for example, to have perfectly parallel rows! We were shown how the lettuces were planted and the children were able to plant their own. In another field, we learnt how to cut a fully grown lettuce making sure the cut was neat so it wouldn’t be damaged and we did, of course, have a little taste.

The fact that McDonald's sources most of its ingredients from British & Irish farms is impressive in that such a large company is committed to sourcing local ingredients and supporting those farms. It would be so easy to go for the cheapest products from all over the world but their commitment to local products sets the right example for other companies. I was also impressed by the quality they require from the farmers who themselves are committed to produce the best ingredients they possibly can.

Once the visit at the farm finished, we went to the McDonalds’ in Chichester where we were given a tour of the restaurant. The oldest children had the opportunity to cook their own burgers while the youngest made their own McFlurry. They loved it!

We were already aware of how efficient McDonald’s restaurants can be and need to be in order to serve so many people in a short space of time. However one thing I learnt from the visit is that they recycle cooking oil which is regularly collected from them.

In all, it was a very good day. My 12 year old was the most impressed by all of it and she thoroughly enjoyed talking with Pippa and asking her questions about her horses. I went back to the Midlands with 3 very happy and very tired little persons!'