Seven Sisters Sheep Centre

Having today (29.3.09) re-visited the Seven Sisters Sheep Centre, a brief up-date to this review seemed in order.

At the start of another seasons' outings it should be noted that, as always, both our English Heritage and National Trust subscriptions have increased this year, the Sheep Centre, yet again, has not increased its prices and indeed, in this day and age now looks conspicuously good value for money.

When I emailed ...
...Sheep!

The Seven Sisters Sheep Centre is rather more than just a place where you can go and see sheep. It is a little place of magic in the heart of the beautiful East Sussex countryside, less than a mile away from Beachy Head. As well as an all round great family attraction, it is a rare breeds centre where you can see as many as forty different breeds of sheep on a working sheep farm. It is also part of the National Association of ... more

Having today (29.3.09) re-visited the Seven Sisters Sheep Centre, a brief up-date to this review seemed in order.

At the start of another seasons' outings it should be noted that, as always, both our English Heritage and National Trust subscriptions have increased this year, the Sheep Centre, yet again, has not increased its prices and indeed, in this day and age now looks conspicuously good value for money.

When I emailed a friend, a couple of years ago, that Mrs R and I had visited this place, she laughed and said that "up here we just go walking in the hills to see sheep". Well yes, here in the vastly over-populated South East of England, this may surprise some of you, but we too can walk up on the South Downs and see, and be amongst, sheep.

Indeed so common are sheep around here that they have a breed of their own - South Downs Sheep!

The Seven Sisters Sheep Centre is rather more than just a place where you can go and see sheep. It is a little place of magic in the heart of the beautiful East Sussex countryside, less than a mile away from Beachy Head. As well as an all round great family attraction, it is a rare breeds centre where you can see as many as forty different breeds of sheep on a working sheep farm. It is also part of the National Association of farms for Schools, billed as "The farm - a living classroom".

Regrettably when I was at school we did not have the opportunity to spend time in living classrooms, down on the farm, or anywhere else!

Locally the Seven Sisters Sheep Centre is a very well known and loved venue, most people living on the Sussex coast are aware of its existence, even if they have not been there. Located a couple of minutes off of the A259 at East Dean on the Beachy Head Road, it is extremely easy to find. Once you arrive, there is a large car park in a field opposite the farm. The field slopes down towards the road and is well drained, even after prolonged rain earlier in the week, it was not at all muddy.

The whole area surrounding the farm is indeed picturesque, giving not a clue that the large town of Eastbourne is just over the hill. Rolling downs, lovely woods and the romantic form of the Napoleonic Belle Tout lighthouse on the horizon wet your appetite for what is, in our experience at least, a unique visitor experience.

Our last farm visit was the wonderful Hounslow Urban Farm, situated at the end of the runway at Heathrow Airport, that too is an enjoyable experience, but this one is very different, partly due to its wonderful setting and partly because it is part of a genuine old South Downs working sheep farm.

Crossing the surprisingly busy (on a spring Sunday at least) Beachy Head road, you enter the farm through gates in an old flint wall. The majority of the "indoor" attractions are housed in a large 17th Century Sussex flint barn. This is surrounded by several farm "yards" all penned off and containing large numbers of sheep.

The tiny reception / pay kiosk is situated at the entrance to the barn. We pay £10.00 for our admission, including £1.00 for four paper bags of feed (30p each - £1 for four) and enter the barn. Today, when we arrived just after 2.00pm, there were no queues - over the Easter holiday you would need to be prepared to queue, on some previous visits it has been far busier and we have had to queue for admission.

On entry you are given a coloured sticker to wear as proof of payment and presented with a small information sheet. On the front of this is a simple map of the (not very large) site. On the back are some fairly obvious health and safety guidelines, if you are unfamiliar with these sorts of farms, especially if you have children with you, please spare a couple of moments to read the very sensible information provided on the sheet.

The first area that you enter following admission is called the Handling Shed. Here you will find the newest of the new born lambs with their mothers. Today when we visited, there were several lambs born only this morning, some were sleeping, some suckling their mothers. What you quickly realise from looking at the many ewes and their babies here, is just how many different sheep breeds there are, and how different they look one from another, not only in colour but shape and fleece too.

The ewes are all pleading with the visitors for food from the paper bags, these are very well fed, well cared for animals, but for whatever reason, they always prefer to eat the dried feed from your hands, rather than the farm provided food from their troughs. Naturally the lambs here are far too small to be eating solids, many of them will, given the opportunity, suck your fingers, mistaking them for their mothers' teats though.

This is a genuine working farm, with all the smells and paraphernalia that you would expect in such a place - wise then not to turn up in Sunday best dress. On the other hand, whilst a lot of people do, we have never seen the need to wear Wellington boots for our visits here - you are not wading in sheep droppings at any stage during your visit!

On the walls of the Handling Shed are little sheep shaped blackboards with the breed, birthdates / time and weight chalked up on them. Also chalked up is "single" "twin" or "triple", according to how many lambs the ewe gave birth to. Looking at the size of the lambs it is not hard to guess how many were born at the same time. The singles are large and robust at a day old, the twins smaller, but still lively, whereas the triples are tiny and usually sleeping.

Knowing how stupid adult sheep tend to be, it is amazing to observe the character displayed by the little ones. They appear far from "sheepish" and take a real interest in their surroundings and the visitors who have come to see them. Some appear far more timid than others, but with a little patience on your part, they will approach and are happy to be petted gently.

On our first visit we were rather surprised to hear piped radio right the way through the pens in all of the sheds. Presumably this is to let the new born lambs become accustomed to the noise of people in order that they are not frightened by the many visitors passing through their temporary home. For the ewes this must all be quite a shock having over-wintered up on the harsh (sea facing) South Downs.

There are three exit doors from the Handling shed, on your left a door leads to a small, flint walled, outside farm yard where ewes with slightly larger lambs are situated. Again, as soon as a visitor appears, they are all lining up to be hand fed. Straight ahead is an indoor picnic area, very simply furnished with wooden benches and tables, this provides shelter for the many school parties who come here during the week, bringing their packed lunches with them.

Behind the picnic area is a narrow room labelled the "Small Animal Area". This is really popular with the small children, as it contains cages in which small furry animals, rabbits, guinea pigs etc live. Today there were also tiny chicks in an incubator here too. As well as viewing the animals themselves, there is a lot of information to be gleaned here. The walls are covered with informative posters about all aspects of animal husbandry, breeds and even farm machinery. This may be called the Sheep Centre, but there is far more than just sheep to see.

There is no marked route around the Centre, you just instinctively follow a set clockwise route, which next brings you into the largest under cover area the "Main Barn". As you enter, the cheese room is on your right; yes they make and sell sheep's cheese here! In front of it, is a raised platform, where at 11.00am and 3.30pm, children are invited to step up, and under the supervision of the farmer, bottle feed the "orphan" lambs. This is an extremely popular attraction and the queues to do this are long, there are not so many orphans here so it is a case of first come, first to serve the lambs!

Obviously lambing does not take place all year round, although the "season" here is extended somewhat. Once lambing is finished, during the summer, there are demonstrations of sheep shearing carried out in the Main Barn, as well as sheep milking.

Next to the platform in the Main Barn is one of the two site toilets, this one complete with baby change facility.

Carry on through the Main Barn and you will come to another set of pens. More sheep with lambs, but there usually seems to be a loan calf here too. On the back wall of the barn are some small wooden pens into which the orphan lambs are placed. To keep them warm they have heat lamps shining on them, of all the little ones these seem to be the most playful, especially as it nears feeding time. They all jostle for position, wanting to be picked up and fed first. On our last visit, in the very corner, was a family of baby rabbits too, as well as one orphaned black piglet.

Exiting the main Barn through the furthest door you enter the Craft Shed, apart from the tea room, the only place on site where you are not surrounded by livestock of one kind or another. Here, if you arrive at the right time (last time we were not) you can see local craftspeople giving demonstrations on spinning and weaving - all on traditional manually operated wheels and looms. There is a large display of traditional craft and farm instruments here, this area really is an historic Aladdin's Cave!

Just outside the Craft Shed you will find my favourite area - the piggery! With two huge black pigs, at this time of the year there always seem to be litters of young piglets here. My favourite farm animals, they are highly amusing with their antics, the parents lay and doze lazily in the sun, whilst their offspring constantly fight, squeal and generally raise mischief. The pigs share this area with a pair of ferrets, who tend to be rather shy, on our six visits so far, we still have not seen them!

Stepping into the daylight, outside of the barn, are yet more pens, most contain sheep and slightly larger, older lambs. Some have goats in them too. At the back of the main Barn are a couple of stables where you can see a pair of donkeys.

As I said, it is not all sheep here!

The sloping grassy field that rises up behind the barn has various play apparatus, farm themed mostly, for children to play on, as well as outside tables and benches. You are positively encouraged to bring your own food and picnic here. There are also spread about the slope pens containing hens.

In the summer months there are tractor rides around the farm starting out from the back of this field. As this was running today, presumably the rides were so popular that they have been extended to the start of the season.

N.B. Before entering the Tea Room, if you have been feeding the animals please visit the toilets in order to thoroughly wash your hands.

Re-entering the building you may, as we were, on this beautiful sunny, but windy, Sunday afternoon, be in need of a refreshing cup of tea. There are two entrances to the Hayrack Tea Room (naturally located in a hay barn!) one from the yard outside, the other via the gift shop. We enjoyed a cup of coffee and tea £1 each and some really good "tea bread" at £1.15 a slice, including butter. Certainly this is not a place to come to in order to be ripped off!

On our way out of the tea room we stopped to have a good look around the gift shop. Compared to the National Trust gift shops the prices here for any item are noticeably lower. Nearly all the products on sale are very specific to the Sheep Centre and its local area. Unfortunately on todays' visit there was no cheese on sale. Mrs R is a sucker for smoked sheep's cheese (common in Poland, especially in the mountains, but not so much so here) last time we parted with £3.00 and brough a delicious slab home with us.

Along the front of the barn are further sheep pens in what is called the "Front Yard", at the far end of which are located the sites second toilets, very simple in character but clean. These are conveniently positioned next to the exit and again, before going home, hands should be washed.

I hope that my review has left you with the impression that this is a great venue, and for all of the family at that. My wife actually remarked as we wandered at leisure that we were not the only adults here unaccompanied by children, indeed this afternoon there were several senior citizen couples, enjoying just what we were - a really good afternoon out!

As I have already said this in not a place where you will leave feeling ripped off. It is extremely friendly, the children absolutely love coming here and in many senses I think it should be regarded as a national rather than local treasure!

Seven Sisters Sheep Centre
East Dean, Nr. Eastbourne
East Sussex, BN20 0DG

Tel: 01323 423207

Open 7 Days a week Early March to Early September
(Restricted opening during May & June)

2.00pm - 5.00pm Weekdays
11.00am - 5.00pm Weekends and Sussex School Holidays

Pre-book for Educational visits
Morning visits by arrangement for:
Guided Tours
Social Clubs
Disabled Parties

The Sussex Sheep Cenre also operates a mobile farm unit available for school visits, open days, birthday parties etc.

ADMISSION PRICES:

Free Parking.

Adults £4.00
Seniors £3.50
Children (2 - 15) £3.00 - under 2's Free
Family (2 + 2) £13.00

Group Discounts / Coaches Welcome
 

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