PRIME Minister David Cameron opened a new science garden at Burford School and went away with some eggs for breakfast.

The Witney MP visited the school on Friday during a special Countryside Live day held to promote a new GCSE course in environmental land-based science.

The school, in Cheltenham Road, is the first in Oxfordshire to offer the subject.

As part of that, the school has created The Acre, a garden-type area which pupils can use for their studies.

Pupil Verity Campbell said: “It was really fantastic that Mr Cameron came to open our science garden.

“We enjoyed showing him what we’ve been doing and gave him some of our first eggs to take home.”

Mr Cameron said: “It’s a fantastic initiative. It’s so important to understand the countryside and you can’t just learn that in the classroom.

“To understand the fantastic area we live in, you have to understand the relationship between agriculture and the landscape and that is why the Acre is such a brilliant idea. Huge congratulations to everyone involved.”

Students and parents were also able to enjoy a talk about writing and the countryside by former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion, who is now the president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Cotswold businesses have supported the course by donating livestock and equipment.

The Cotswold Farm Park, run by Countryfile TV presenter Adam Henson, gave the school some rare-breed chickens, while plants and two miniature donkeys came from the Cotswold Wildlife Park, just outside Burford.

The Chipping Norton branch of rural supplies store Countrywide provided animal feed, bedding and sheep gates.

For more details of the GCSE course, email Clare Brown at cbro7709@burford.oxon.sch.uk