 |
| Some big sheep at The Big Sheep |
The animals were predominantly of the ovine variety, with activities centred on them throughout the day, including lamb feeding, sheep herding and sheep racing, which included competitors named Red Ram and Alderknitty. Visitors receive a timetable on arrival and the park is quite compact, so it's easy to get around to seeing everything. Many activities take place in outdoor venues allowing you to watch casually rather than committing to seeing the whole show, which is great for those with young children.
In addition to sheep, there was a duck herding display where children were invited to 'get involved', though this merely involved them standing behind some fences on the course, rather than interacting with the animals themselves. The first obstacle was approached approximately seven times before the ducks went where they were meant to - we couldn't decide if this was a not-very-funny part of the show, or just the shepherd's ineptitude. When he started threatening to get an adult from the audience up to sing 'Old MacDonald had a farm', we decided to leave, as it became quite uncomfortable to watch.
 |
| A paddling of ducks in the duck-herding show at The Big Sheep |
Our two-year-old was particularly interested in playing on the tractor ride, bouncing on the jumping pillows and whizzing down the slide in the soft play area, which was adjacent to the Ewetopia cafe. The food on offer was depressingly average - I had a fairly non-descript burger served in a takeaway carton with anaemic-looking chips.
The Big Sheep has a small gift shop, The Sheepy Shop, with the usual range you'd expect - the two-year-old selected some chocolate Lamb's Whoopsies as a gift for his grandmother, then demanded to eat most of them himself.
Plenty of other activities were on offer, including a brewery shop, the Twister ride and the incongruous Battlefield Live combat game, which had nothing at all to do with sheep or farming.
The Big Sheep is certainly more than the average farm park, but I'm not sure that the attractions really warranted the rather excessive price tag, particularly for adults.
Cefn Mably Farm Park
 |
| A greedy goat at Cefn Mably Farm Park |
It was immediately clear on entry that the park is currently undergoing extensive improvement work. The soft play area has already been improved, with the under-fives area in particular greatly expanded. The builders didn't get in the way on our visit (the two-year-old was delighted to see 'Bob' and his friends at work, so in some ways it was an added attraction).
The petting area is the first port of call on entry, with rabbits and guinea pigs galore that can be handled by the children. Following this, we had our first encounter with assorted sheep and goats, who weren't particularly bothered by the food we offered them, as a visiting toddler group had just been past and overfed them quite considerably. There's then an aviary with a wide assortment of birds, including a peacock who was displaying his impressive plumage as we passed by. Next, the cat enclosure. Yes, really. Cefn Mably is home to a number of rescued cats, who live very comfortably in an enclosure that's done up to look like someone's front room. Opposite this were the rare breed pigs and a small outdoor play area, with tractors for children to ride on, which they can then conveniently ride around the rest of the park and ditch wherever they like.
There are plenty of animals to see as you walk round the park - sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, ducks, geese and assorted poultry, including a turkey who unfortunately looks like someone's already started plucking him in preparation for Christmas dinner. As our walk progressed, the animals we encountered became increasingly hungry. One donkey bit another in an attempt to get at our food (resulting in a loud 'hee-haw!' that scared the two-year-old) and several horses were kicking the crap out of their gates to get our attention. I'm not sure quite what was in those feed pellets, but even the geese came honking up to the fence when they heard the rustling bags. This allowed for a charming level of interactivity with the animals, who will all eat out of your hands (though I drew the line at proffering my palm to the geese and there's a strict 'no hand-feeding' policy with the pigs).
A tractor and combine harvester were on hand for children to sit on (though our two-year-old was more interested in 'mending' them). There were also pony rides available on a little pony called Silver (£2 for just under three minutes), though most of the children apparently call him 'Pumpkin' because that's the name of the horse in Postman Pat.
 |
| Tractor at Cefn Mably Farm Park |
For the price, Cefn Mably is excellent value and particularly good for those with toddlers.
The Big Sheep: http://www.thebigsheep.co.uk/ (on Twitter: @bigsheepdayout)
Cefn Mably Farm Park: http://www.cefnmablyfarmpark.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment