Nathan's Farm

What it’s like

Feed the animals, hold a baby chick and go egg collecting at a small petting farm with its own café.

The main business here is hands-on: feeding the animals, holding a baby chick or duckling, and having a go at egg collecting for an extra £1 a child. There's a children's play area too, so if the animals lose their appeal for ten minutes there's somewhere else to point them. It's a small, simple setup rather than a big day-out attraction, and that's part of the charm if you're after a couple of focused hours rather than a full itinerary.

Opening hours are steady through the week, 10 till 4 Monday to Saturday and an 11 o'clock start on Sundays, so no need to rush breakfast. The café does sandwiches, hot drinks and ice cream, with an ice cream wheelbarrow doing the rounds and an afternoon tea option if the adults fancy sitting down properly while the kids finish up with the animals. There's a gift shop on the way out too, which you'll want to walk past briskly if you're trying to avoid the inevitable soft toy negotiation.

Birthday parties run as a set package at £14.95 per child, minimum ten children, and it covers a fair bit: meet and greet, feeding the animals, holding a chick or duckling, food for the kids and tea or coffee for the grown-ups. That per-head minimum is worth knowing before you start planning a smaller party, since ten kids is the floor whether you've got that many or not.

Facilities

Need to know

Food

Café serving sandwiches, hot drinks, ice cream

Parties

Standard party package £14.95 per child (minimum 10)

• Egg collecting is a £1 add-on per child, not included in general entry
• Party bookings need a minimum of ten children even for a smaller group
• Sundays open an hour later than the rest of the week
• The ice cream wheelbarrow does the rounds if you don't fancy queuing at the café

Plan your visit

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