CATEGORY · FRESH AIR INCLUDED

Farms & Petting Farms in Brighton

There's no big petting farm right in Brighton, but you don't have to go far. Wayfield Park Farm is the closest, a working beef farm where you can get up close to the Sussex cattle and grab something from the café. One Garden Brighton, out in Stanmer Park, is free to wander and has a Halloween trail in October if you time it right. For proper animal encounters, it's a short drive out to Hassocks for The Oaks Poultry Farm, where chicks, donkeys and goats are yours to pet from £3, with indoor sand and soft play for the days that turn wet. If free entry matters, Raystede near Lewes is a sanctuary you explore at your own pace, with a guided tour at half eleven, and Plaw Hatch Farm out at East Grinstead lets you watch the cows being milked at 4pm for nothing. For toddlers, The Oaks has the softest landing indoors. Older children will get more from Blackberry Farm Park in Lewes, where pony rides and a proper muddy farm walk start from £16 for ages 2 and up, with indoor play as a backup when the mud wins.

✓ 6 places✦ 3 free to visit