Melsop Farm Park – Easter Monday

Yesterday we visited Melsop farm park. It was a ridiculously rainy day but as a family we had planned to meet up with grandparents and cousins etc so we decided to still head to the farm.  We were (well the children were) well equipped with puddle suits and wellington boots.

Upon arrival at the farm we were welcomed by a lovely mud bath car park. We managed to find somewhere to park along the path so that we did not get stuck.We entered paid and bought some animal feed for the animals. We paid £63 for 6 adults and 3 children including 6 bags of feed.

We saw lots of animals at the farm, birds, rabbits, hedgehog, goats, sheep, cows, piglets and chickens. They have many rare breeds of animals listed on their website. They sell some of the animals, hire them out and you can adopt some of the animals. The cheeky little baby goats were small enough they could climb out of their enclosure which was funny to watch. They would escape and run along to us for food and lots of attention. There seemed to be lot of animals in quite a small space in pens in the sheds but we assume this is due to the wet weather and the fields all being very wet. The whole farm looked a little tired with small things which needed fixing including broken fencing, a broken window on a shed, lots of random containers, pieces of hutches cages and generally just machinery lying around. We understand this is a working farm but a day of tidying could make the appearance must nicer by locking thing away in sheds. We looked into one stable and found reindeer they didn’t seem to have any access to fresh air and light and the shed as the shed was shut and tied closed. I am sure all of these things will be dealt with in time but made our experience slightly less awesome! We also didn’t see any staff about the farm, working on the farm or tending to the children. If we would have seen someone we would have probably chatted to them about the animals, their care and also checked out our questions about the animals. One of the children even said ‘Where is the farmer?’. Our children had a fabulous time as they loved to see the animals and explore the farm. It was lovely to get so close to the animals and touch them. We enjoyed feeding the goats and all the animals seemed very friendly and didn’t mind being touched.

Melsop had a wonderful Easter egg hunt. You are given an egg box and you need to explore the farm looking for different coloured eggs. Once you have collected all 6 different coloured eggs you collected a can collect a  prize ** A full-sized Easter Egg ** this was a highlight of the day the girls were very excited. It was fun searching for them and they even had some boxes around the farm to trick you into thinking you’d found one. We saw they were also advertising that they will have a circus in their theatre next week which would be good to see, its only an additional £2 on top of the ticket price.

There was a soft play area inside which was great so the children could escape the rain and burn some energy whilst they waited for their lunch. This is a lovely area with ride ons, a small area for younger children and a larger climbing frame. Outside they also have climbing frames and a play park including diggers and a trampoline which would be lovely in the summer. They offer a wide selection of food menu. A message in the menu stated that they sourced meat locally or the meat from the farm itself which was good to know when making a choice. Food was reasonably priced, my jacket potato was tasty and cooked thoroughly it just wasn’t overly warm.. I asked for my meal to be heated in the microwave and the young girl happily did this for me without any problems. The girls and Josh all enjoyed portions of chicken nuggets and chips. The staff member behind the till had problems adding up our bill and Josh had to question how much they had charged us as it was considerably more than the menu price. This was dealt with and we enjoyed our lunch together and then allowed the children to play again where we could see them.

Overall it was a great family day out, creating memories for the children, overlooking the things we weren’t 100% happy about we did have a lovely time. We would love to see a few changes made and this would help improve the farm into a place that we would return to time and time again. We would hope as the summer season starts the farm is tidied up and made completely safe and presentable to the public.

Thanks for reading.

***Update*** Melsop have been in contact regarding my post ‘Thank you so much for all the comments and suggestions, we really appreciate feedback and are always looking for ways to improve. You are right about the weather being the problem! At the moment, a lot of our fields are waterlogged so the animals have to stay indoors. Not ideal, but at least they are warm and dry.
As for the reindeer, we cannot display them to the public without a zoo licence. We are currently in the process of renewing our licence so, during opening hours, they have to be in their shed. Hopefully, this will be rectified soon and they will be back to stealing carrot sticks from small children!’ (Liz) They have also invited us to visit their circus this weekend which we are excited to give a try.

As featured on – https://daysoutnow.co.uk