Wednesday 3 July 2013

A trip to Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park-we had an amazing day!

Today we enjoyed a fun filled day at Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park, it was Alex's first trip with preschool and we all went along.

I will admit I am not the biggest farm fan, but this one was so nice, it was well maintained, clean, tidy and very child friendly.

We split into 3 groups and rotated between different activities, first we had a chat and demonstration about milking a goat, then enjoyed a chat about chicks, rabbits and guinea pigs-which was very interactive for the children, they each got to hold a chick, and stroke the rabbits and guinea pigs. Alex also fed the goats and lambs some milk-Sam watched on jealously as he was starting to get hungry but the quails kept him entertained. After a quick lunch break it was time for the tractor ride!

Feeding, stroking, watching and holding the animals.
Tractors played a big part of our day (usually resulting in some tantrums from Alex as he didn't want to come off of them)! The tractor ride circles around the farm and is very informative, it was also a great time to sit and relax (as much as you can on a bumpy tractor ride) after lunch and it got Sam to sleep somehow too!

After the tractor ride there is a very popular motorised tractor track for the kids (although I did see some Mum's using it too)! I was so surprised at how good Alex was at staying between the track lines-his driving skills have obviously come from Daddy too as he kept overtaking!

They also have quite a lot of pedal tractors and smaller push along tractors for smaller legs too in one of the park areas.

Tractors
Another great and unique part of the day were the 'jumpy pillows' which were basically two giant bouncy castle/trampoline type areas for kids (and adults) to enjoy and burn off lots of energy. What is great is that they have made one for under 6's and one for over 6's so they little ones don't get bounced off the edges by bigger ones!

Jumpy Pillows
As we drove instead of getting the coach like a lot of the class we were able to stay there longer than the 3 hours they had which was fab as it meant we got to have a walk through the small woodland area, which had a small obstacle course, bee hive viewers, a wormery and small pond. They had dens made out of twigs, and log seating area with canopy with a (unused) camp fire in the middle-I think this may probably be used for older school groups. We used our new camera to try and get some family shots-which took much longer than anticipated-I personally like our silly shot!

Woodland area
We actually stayed an extra 2 hours which shows how much fun we were having-and Alex of course wanted another go on the tractors!

If you live anywhere near here I would certainly recommend, it really was the nicest farm I have ever visited, everything was spotlessly clean, the animals all looked healthy and well looked after, the staff were all really friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Even the toilets were spotless-which is very unusual compared to any other farm I have visited in recent years!

There were plenty of park benches, covered eating areas great for taking a picnic, there is also a small cafe (which sells some lovely rocky road if you ever visit) it is fairly pricey but these sort of places usually are. The eating areas also have plenty of high chairs for little ones too.



Aside from the animals there is also plenty of play areas for the kids, different swings, a dinosaur dig (which we didn't get around to doing), parks, and a sandy digging area too with lots of building hats for the children-Alex loved this area and we had to coax him out!

Play areas
For us to spend 5 hours at a farm speaks volumes that it is a great place to visit-particularly for younger children.

And this is always a sign of a good day out...

Fast asleep within a few minutes

  

10 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a fantastic day out. Great review. Makes me want to visit myself :0) (with the kids - of course! ) x

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    1. Thanks, definitely worth a visit with the boys if you are ever near x

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  2. This looks like a wonderful day out! Im glad you all had such a good time xx

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  3. What a wonderful day out you all had! I think farms are a winner with all kids and you can tell it was from the photos. I remember that first school trip with mine too, such lovely memories :)

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    1. Yes definitely-it's me that's not the lover of them. Yes the first of many :) x

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  4. Looks like a fab day out! Love it when they can feed lambs and hold the fluffy things, great memories to be making!

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    1. Yes definitely, with Alex not being overly confident around animals it was just the sort of thing to get him a bit more comfortable around them too :) x

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  5. Sounds like a lovely day out - well done for posting so many fab photos. I am very lazy with pictures on mine - must try harder!

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    1. We bought an SLR so trying to get to grips with it-so plenty of photos to choose from :)

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Thanks for taking the time to comment :)