The Cotswold Farm Park – A Day on the Nation’s Favourite Farmers’ Farm.

Heading to a farm for a spring day out, a few days before Easter, is always such a lovely thing to do with the family.  On a recent trip back to the UK, we were staying with my parents who were keen to treat their children and grandchildren to a day out at Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park.  His father first started the farm back in the 1970’s to try and help some rare breeds, and since then he has taken over this rather famous place.  It is growing all the time and has become very successful.  We headed off to enjoy a slightly cooler, but still dry, spring day on the farm.

There is a lot to do there, and if you are a local, it is worth a few visits there to make sure you have seen everything.  We started the day with a tractor safari around the farm.  This was a good way to get our bearings and see what things there were to do, and where it all was.  It was a very informative ride, as the driver told us about the history of the farm and the breeds they have as we went round.

As you can imagine, there were babies everywhere!!!  They have a large lambing barn, and they are keen for you to be able to experience as much as possible, so if are lucky you can see a live birth.  My father was, and he watched some triplets being born.  One didn’t make it sadly, but he was able to see mum settle in with her other 2, and by the time we got there, they were only 20 minutes old.  The trio were slightly confused by the pink tinge of the newborn lambs, but after a brief biology lesson, they’d learnt something else.  It was so lovely being able to get so close and to see so much going on.

The trio were very involved; stroking lambs, kids, holding bunnies and chicks, admiring piglets, tickling guinea pigs, and bottle feeding the lambs and kids too.  They loved being so hands on.  We’d also bought 4 bags of animal feed, and there was a very good walk around the fields of the farm, allowing us to stop and feed the animals along the way.  The majority were hand fed, but the cows had a little chute that you poured the feed down into their trough.  All the animals were so docile and very friendly.  The most laid back farm animals I have ever seen.

It was a really lovely day out, very hands on, and the trio learnt a lot too.  We could easily go back though and enjoy it again!!