A SUNNY MORNING AT ABBOTSBURY CHILDREN'S FARM, DORSET

Despite living in Dorset my whole life, I've never visited Abbotsbury! Most people have heard of the Swannery but Abbotsbury has so much more to offer. 

The three main tourist attractions are the Children's Farm, the Swannery and the Subtropical Gardens. You can buy separate tickets for these attractions but you can get a passport ticket which covers all three and saves you lots of £££ (I'll go over prices at the end of the review). I've decided to do separate blog posts for each, our first visit was the Children's Farm. 

The Children's Farm

The children's farm is located in Abbotsbury village and is well signposted. Parking can be a little confusing as there is no parking at the farm however there is a large free carpark at the swannery which is just over half a mile away or there is a carpark in the village which is £3.50 for all day parking. We parked in the village carpark and it was a 2 minute walk down a big steep hill to get to the farm - the views are beautiful as you walk down! Watch the kids though, Elliot started running and almost couldn't stop...had visions of him ending up in the pond! ;)

Entrance is via the gift shop and we were given a leaflet of activities for the day. Elliot was itching to explore and he dragged me straight to the barn. The Ancient Tithe Barn is a kids paradise and full of activities to keep them occupied. There's a large soft play area, under 5's soft play, a big bouncy castle/slide, giant foam building bricks and even table football and table tennis. 

It was really quiet when we visited so we had the barn to ourselves and Elliot just couldn't decide what he wanted to play on - he was running from the soft play to the bouncy castle and back to the soft play! We even had a go at the table tennis but that was a bit of a challenge ;) 

Once I'd managed to drag Elliot away from the barn we decided to explore and see what animals we could find. Mr Impatient was on a mission, he'd look at the animal and say "Come onnnnn Mummy!" - so we whizzed round and then went round a second time, actually taking a bit more time to look!

There were lots of animals to see and we were able to get up close to them all. We loved the baby lambs and Elliot was able to help with the bottle feeding....those lambs were hungry!!

Another favourite were the guinea pigs, there were so many of them! We went into their enclosure and there were around 50 guinea pigs running around, Elliot was able to hold one of them and feed him some carrot - he loved that!

Other animals we saw included piglets, rabbits, birds, ponies, kune kune pigs, donkeys, pygmy goats and some very inquisitive alpacas!

The farm has it's own cafe serving hot and cold food but we had a packed lunch - it was actually really warm so we sat outside to eat it, felt like Summer! There are plenty of picnic benches scattered around plus lots of seating in the playbarn which would be useful on a cold/wet day.

After lunch Elliot had a play on the pedal tractors and outside play area and we noticed they were doing pony rides so he had to have a go! It was £2.50 a go (I think...it might have been £3.50, can't quite remember!) and Elliot was so excited to choose himself a hat and meet the pony. One thing I noticed about the farm is that the staff were so friendly and helpful - the man who took Elliot on his pony ride was very chatty and I could see him and Elliot chatting the whole way round the field!

When we first arrived at the farm I wondered whether there would be enough to keep us busy but there is lots of do here aside from the animals and soft play. There is a waterplay zone, radio controlled pirate boats, bouncy cows, walk in aviary, swing seats, a cow to practice milking on (don't worry..it's not real!), sandplay, outside play barn, giant quoits and even a hay bale mountain and slide which is open from May onwards.

Before we left, Elliot had to have one last go in the soft play and the only way I could lure him out was the promise of a look in the gift shop! One packet of tractors later and we were on our way. 

We had a lovely morning exploring the farm in the sunshine and it was an unexpected surprise finding all the play equipment in the barn. Elliot really enjoyed meeting all the animals and he says he wants to go back so he can play in the soft play again! 

Prices

• Adult: £10.50
• Child (5-15 years): £9.00
• Super Saver Family Ticket (2 adults and up to 3 children) £43 – Includes entry to the Swannery, Children’s Farm and Subtropical Gardens
• Passport Tickets (one visit to each of the three attractions – a real holiday treat!)
• Adult –  £17
• Child (5-15 years) – £14
• Family (group up to 5 with a maximum of 2 adults) – £43

We went on to visit the Swannery so look out for that write up coming very soon :) 

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