... We had been to other farms before and she loved the animals so when my own mum, who still had youngsters, my brother and sister who are 7 and 5 years of age, invited us to Leighton Buzzard to Mead Open Farm, we jumped at the chance.
Armed with picnic lunches for the children, which had grown ... Read review
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Advantages: Practically Everything! Disadvantages: Costly as most farms are (though annual discounts offered)
...us to Leighton Buzzard to Mead Open Farm, we jumped at the chance.
Armed with picnic lunches for the children, which had grown in number, we took the easy route to the farm and prepared for a great day out.
Mead Open Farm is located in Billington, near Leighton Buzzard. It is clearly signposted with those well known brown signposts from both the A505 and the A4146.
On arriving, I was glad to see a large area ... ...ON FUN
Mead open farm, unlike a lot of farms I have been to, offers a lot of hands on fun with the animals for both children and adults alike to enjoy. The following activities are included at the farm, with more popping up all the time
At every hands on activity, you will find happy, helpful staff on hand to help out and give you a run down about the animals and how to do each activity. Activities are spread throughout ... more
Old McDonald had a farm...Perhaps not one like this though!
As a mum of a toddler I was always on the lookout for new and exciting places to take her. We had been to other farms before and she loved the animals so when my own mum, who still had youngsters, my brother and sister who are 7 and 5 years of age, invited us to Leighton Buzzard to Mead Open Farm, we jumped at the chance.
Armed with picnic lunches for the children, which had grown in number, we took the easy route to the farm and prepared for a great day out.
Mead Open Farm is located in Billington, near Leighton Buzzard. It is clearly signposted with those well known brown signposts from both the A505 and the A4146.
On arriving, I was glad to see a large area for parking (being terrible at parking!) right next to the farm entrance so no need to walk any distance at all which is good news for the excited children. Parking is also free!
Ticket prices, I would say, are average for this type of outing, yet perhaps a little too high in some ways, though apart from buying food in the farm, there are no hidden costs. A day pass for adult is £7.50, and for a child £6.50 (Children under 2 go free) You can also buy annual passes for just under £40 so if you plan to go a lot, it is well worth it. If you are in groups of 20+ £1.00 is taken off of everyones ticket price. Senior Citizen ticket is £7.00 and disabled persons and carers only £4.00
Now we have the formalities over and done with, let me take you around the farm!
On first impression of the farm, I could see that it was well laid out, clean and good directions through the farm, not that you overly need directions as it is not too big unless you count the nature walk which you can go on the other side of the park and into the woods. With two toddlers, we decided on this visit not to partake in this activity (and by the end of the day my feet were thankful too!)
HANDS ON FUN
Mead open farm, unlike a lot of farms I have been to, offers a lot of hands on fun with the animals for both children and adults alike to enjoy. The following activities are included at the farm, with more popping up all the time
At every hands on activity, you will find happy, helpful staff on hand to help out and give you a run down about the animals and how to do each activity. Activities are spread throughout the day at different times, all found on the timetable you are given when you enter the farm, this way, you wont miss the events you want to participate in!
Milking the Cows Ever wanted to really milk a cow the old fashioned way? Well now you can in the big barn. We didn't get around to this activity unfortunately though I will certainly be doing it next time (for myself as well as my daughter!)
Bunny Hop This was the first activity we came to on arriving in the park and it was lovely. Within one of the barns, rabbits were on the haystacks and floor allowing children to hold, feed and pet them. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed this, and facilities to wash hands after was right outside so there was no worries there either. (Hand washing facilities are dotted around the farm)
Groom Ponies Another lovely activity for the children, where they get to comb and pet the shetland ponies. This activity can get quite busy so get there before the time shown!
Bottle Feed Lambs My daughters favourite activity of the day I think, and she is only 20 months and loved it. All the children loved this event, though be careful with younger ones holding the bottle for when the lambs suck on the bottle they become extremely strong - we saw a few bottles being thrown through the air by the lambs when the child let go! All fun though!
New Babies Throughout the year there are always new baby animals being born giving children the opportunity to meet baby animals. At the time we went, we saw some lovely piglets - so cute!
Sheep Racing This runs from April to October and is a lot of fun! All children go to the kiosk to put a free bet on which sheep they think would win. They get a flag (which they get to keep) to bring back if their sheep won, and recieve a winners badge. Watching the sheep is funny for both adults and children - I thoroughly enjoyed it!
SheepDog Demo We unfortunately didnt see this event though looked great with a tower in the middle of a field in which the dogs got the sheep into - great fun!
Ferret Racing Right near the sheep racing there are four long tunnels with obsticals in which four ferrets race. Children are picked out of the audience to let the ferrets out of the starting box. Can get very loud as the children shout for their favourite to win!
Of course, aside from attending the activities, you are also free to roam around the farm, seeing the animals at your own leisure
FOOD TIME
What with all the activities, you are bound to get hungry and thirsty. Prices are quite steep so I suggest you take your own picnic as we did if you dont want to spend a lot of money, yet I couldnt resist getting a fruit cake and hot chocolate from the smaller cafe (which was beautiful!)
There are two cafe's, the first smaller one with lovely outside and inside seating with homemade cakes, hot food, and hot and cold drinks. The second is in Shaggy's playworld cafe. Ill warn you now - dont go eat in here if you want a quiet sit down as it is combined with a large indoor play area (which I will cover below) Last orders are taken at 6pm daily.
PLAY PLAY PLAY So we have seen the animals, ate our lunch, so now what? Well, as we were hearing all day from the older children, it is time to play!
The biggest play part within the farm, as mentioned above, is Shaggy's indoor playworld which is named after the farms mascot. It is huge! Totalling over 13,000 sq ft! There are many areas of play including special areas for under 3's and also under 5's as well as 65ft astra slides, brave giant drop slides, clamber over shiver chicanes and scramble Zig Zag net climbers. I just wish I was a child again! I did manage to go down one of the slides, though, with my nephew!
Also in shaggys playworld is the party rooms which I will ocver below.
Want some outside play? Then you can head over to the go-carts and crazy golf (not forgetting it is all included in your entrance price!), there is also a log play park complete with sandpit and playhouses for he younger ones, lots of climbing and sliding and loads of fun.
Tractor and trailer rides are also avaliable, both small tractors for children to drive themselves, and also a real tractor which pulls you along on the trailer. Unfortunately as it had been raining the day before quite heavy, the tractor was not open.
As this is a farm, there is what you expect there to be - fields with pleanty of space. If we were not participating in activities, looking at the animals, eating or playing, we adults sat down to have a rest whilst the children simply ran around in the grass. My brother happened to find a goal post with a couple of footballs too, so he was happy!
The newest thing within the farm is the Maize Maze which is just what it says - a maze made of maize! We didnt go in here, though, as although you could go in with pushchairs it wasnt advisable due to lack of space and bumpy ground. It was huge though, so I dont thing claustophobic me would have gone it - I dont think I would have ever have got out again!
One thing is for sure, your children will sleep well the night you go (my daughter did and so did I!)
SPECIAL EVENTS AND PARTIESMead Open Farm holds a few special events throughout the year - always check on their website or ring them beforehand to check times and dates, though. For example, some event include ;
Goat walking runs where you can go on a long group walk/run with the goats
Reptile roadshow where lizards and other reptiles are brought in for show and touch
Annual easter egg hunt
Halloween sounds great - when my daughter is a bit older I would love to go here then - with haunted houses and rides, it sounds great!
Christmas time brings Santa and his toy shop - another time I think I might head over there.
A lot of competitions are run for prizes at each event too so keep an eye open for that. Open Mead farm offers three options with regards to birthday parties;
Premium Party - £12.50 per child Available Monday to Sunday Morning parties held: 10.15 am to 12.45 pm, with lunch at 12 noon Afternoon parties held: 2.15 pm to 4.45 pm, with supper at 4 pm
After School Party - £9.95 per child Available Monday to Friday during term time Parties held: 4 pm to 6.30 pm, with supper at 5 pm
Toddler Midweek Party - £9.50 per child Available Monday to Friday during term time Morning parties held: 10.15 am to 12.45 pm, with lunch at 12 noon Afternoon parties held: 12.30 pm to 3 pm, with lunch at 1 pm
Parties include everything in the farm though a lot of it in private groups of party members only - which is great - less chance of loosing a child! Included in the price is also party food and invitations. Adults are admitted free with an adult child ratio of 1-2. Extra adults charged at only £4.50. The downside is a child under two who usually gets admitted free pays a full child price - the adult of this child goes free though.
The parties, as mentioned above, are hosted in special rooms in Shaggy's playbarn and are all decorated in lovely farm themes
TO CONCLUDE
I think you may have guessed from above, I would completely reccomend this farm - it is the best one I have found in a 20 mile radius so far (though I probably havent been to them all!) Children of all ages (and adults!) love this as it is a very family friendly place and am looking forward to going back again for another visit. And a bonus - the children will sleep well that night!
EXTRA INFO
Open daily 10am - 6.30pm. Last entry 5.30pm. Open 361 days per year Open between Christmas and New Year Closes at 4pm on 31 December Closed 24, 25, 26 Dec and 1 Jan only
Address Mead Open Farm Stanbridge Road Billington Bedfordshire LU7 9JH
Advantages: excellent trip for familys or schools Disadvantages: ?
...my family and me to Mead open farm/? Mead farm is an open farm at Stanbridge, Leighton Buzzard, and Bedfordshire. www.meadopenfarm.freeserve.co.uk.
This farm is a farm with traditional farm animals it is about ½ hr from my home so get in the car we are going to meet my daughter and grandson there. We have arrived and parked our car. We enter into the ticket office it cost us £4.50 for an adult £5.0 for a child if we had senior citizens that would ... ...it would cost £26 for adult £22 for a child £24 for the old one. I f I lived in Leighton Buzzard I might be interested in that. We walked past the shop selling toy animals, books and trinkets standard type of things you get in zoo’s / farm’s. There was a tearoom too we did not use it as we were only going to be there a couple of hours.
I noted they did birthday parties here £9.95 per child one adult free per 2 children, extra adults ...
mumsymary 21.06.2004 (22.06.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mead open Farm (Lieghton Buzzard)
