This morning we made the most of the nice weather and went to Thorpe Farm just off the A66. The last time we visited must have been a good 5 years ago. Back then there was a tea shop with a small play park and a reclamation yard. Things have changed a lot since then with the addition of Wetheriggs Animal Rescue last year. I had heard other people talk about it and always planned to take a look but for some reason we just never got round to it. Until today.
I’m glad we waited. L is just the right age now at almost 2 to recognise all the animals and get excited about being allowed to stroke them. Her age also meant we didn’t need to worry about getting a pushchair around, although it would have been fairly easy (as long as you don’t have the kind of pushchair that flat down refuses to go over grass and uneven ground, you know the kind I mean, we’ve all been there!) and as an added bonus under 3’s are free.
Inside the barn there are rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, quail, and a few reptiles. We were able to stroke some rabbits but when we arrived shortly after opening the place was busy with loads of kids helping out filling up all the food and animal bowls and while it was nice to see it also meant it was a little chaotic. I think if we had gone a bit later they would have had more time to actually help us out and we would have been able to stroke more of the animals. If I’m honest, it was nice but I didn’t feel it was worth the admission price (£3.50 for adults, £2 for children 3-15). Until we went to the paddocks.
We bought a bag of animal feed for £1 (you can buy 3 for £2.50 and if there are a few of you I would highly recommend you do) and headed through the car park and over the road to the paddocks. At first they didn’t look too exciting but there are actually more animals than you first realise and the minute they see you coming with the animal feed they run to greet you. We fed ducks, goats, donkeys, horses, ponies, sheep, llamas and alpacas. My favourites had to be the baby goats, they were just the cutest little things. M and L both had a great time being able to get so hands on with the animals.
Once the food was all gone we headed to the toilets to wash our hands then the kids were desperate to go to the park. It’s only small but what is there is nice and well looked after and there’s a good area for the kids to run around with some picnic benches to sit and watch from (and possibly enjoy a drink and an ice cream from the cafe).
Being a nice day all the picnic benches were full so the cafe itself was nice and quiet (and cool) so we headed inside for a bite of lunch followed by homemade cakes.
I would have loved a look around the reclamation yard but unfortunately it was all shut up and looked like there was some renovation work going on so you might want to call up before making a special trip there for that.
All in all we had a great day and I would definitely go back again, but only on a nice day when you can enjoy walking round the paddock, I imagine it’s not so fun when it gets muddy!