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A Day Out at Manor Farm

June 22, 2019 by The Mad Maker Dad Leave a Comment

On the edge of the River Hamble valley country park in Hampshire is Manor farm, a working farm with loads of fun activities for the kids!

The Farm Entrance
The Farm Entrance

A given that a child-friendly farm would have a range of animals you can pet but Manor farm is so much more than this. It’s a working farm where the animals are milked, sheered, and erm….sold to be taken to shall we say somewhere else.

Incidentally, the restaurant does some fine local sausages! The rest of the food is also pretty nice and reasonably priced with plenty of seating both indoors and out. There are also a few places you can take a picnic.

The animals look happy and healthy and many can be petted or played with!

Ellie petting a little lamb

At the time of writing this they are building an over-winter area so the animals can be sheltered but still seen during those colder months.

There are so many little activities for the kids and is interesting for the grown ups too.

If you’re into engineering they have some old farm machinery on display including vintage tractors. History buffs can check out the old farmhouses and Victorian schoolrooms and kitchen.

tractors
Some of the tractors on display

There’s a blacksmith’s forge, a deer hide, cottage gardens and duck pond as well as a fantastic little adventure play park that includes a little tractor racing track!

Tractor racing!

Prices are extremely reasonable and annual passes make it the sort of thing that’s brilliant for a day out without having to worry about seeing everything in one trip. We have them so can just go any time we want!

Despite the focus on history the farm is extremely progressive with its facilities with disabled ramps nearly everywhere so almost everything is accessible.

There is also a modest but fantastic use of technology with an interactive map that can show you where to find everything.

The interactive map

I absolutely love our little visits to the farm and really recommend you go take a look especially if you’re in or near Hampshire.

Filed Under: Nature, Outdoor Activities, The Mad Maker Dad Tagged With: a laid back day, activity day out, day out, days out, family day out, family days out, family farm day, farm, farm day out, farmer for a day, fun day out, hampshire, hampshire (english non-metropolitan county), hampshire county council, hampshire day out, houses for sale, longdown dairy farm, manor, manor farm, national farming day, old macdonald had a farm (composition), with a toddler

Pumpkin Picking Festival at Sunnyfields Farm – Hampshire

October 28, 2018 by The Mad Maker Dad 2 Comments

Halloween is around the corner and if like us, you are ill prepared and haven’t fulfilled your parental obligations of dragging a child around a pumpkin patch yet then have no fear!

Sunnyfields Pumpkin Picking Festival

Today we went to Sunnyfields Farm on the edge of the New Forest and took part in their annual pumpkin picking festival.  I say “pumpkin picking” but clearly they had already been picked and most were arranged in a field nice and clean, ready for the little ones to pick the pumpkins they want.  This was fantastic however as it gave the farmer experience without the actual hard work of uprooting cleaning up etc

Pumpkin field

As well as a field, you could find slightly better quality ones in a tent with sizes small to massive and other colours including blue?  I didn’t even know you could get other colour pumpkins!!

Wheelbarrows were provided to help carry your pumpkins and of course to help with the obligatory photos of wheeling around your child.

Wheelbarrows

Once done, you could pay for your pumpkins and then leave or take advantage of the great stuff there.

There is a lovely little farm shop where you can buy fresh food as well as an amazing little cafe that does some great vegetarian and vegan food.

Tractor and trailer rides were available and looked like great fun.  We didn’t partake as I can’t see my little girl sitting still for long enough to enjoy it.

Facepainting and a pop up cafe selling warm pumpkin soup and mulled cider certainly hit the spot on the cold day we were there for!

Most importantly there was organised pumpkin carving and for about £2.50 you could borrow all the tools and templates needed to carve your pumpkin on site.  We had to have a go of course and I think our daughter really enjoyed herself.

Pumpkin Carving

She’s only two years old but happily was scooping outside the insides of the pumpkin with a worryingly determined zeal.  She did however, need some assistance with the serrated knife.  It wasn’t sharp but it takes a little strength to stab all the way through the pumpkin flesh.

The end results were a simple little carving that we can now stick a candle in for halloween presumming she doesn’t destroy the thing before then.  I’ve been trying hard to stop her feeding it toy dinosaurs.

Finished Pumpkin

The festival is still on until 31st October and no doubt will be on again next year.  So if you don’t have your mandatory carved pumpkin in the window for halloween yet go check it out!

https://www.sunnyfields.co.uk/

We will definitely be going again next year!

 

Filed Under: Blog, Halloween, Outdoor Activities, The Mad Maker Dad Tagged With: farmer, halloween, hampshire, october, pumpkin, pumpkin carving, pumpkin festival, pumpkin patch, pumpkins, southampton, sunnyfields, sunnyfields farm, where to get pumpkins

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