Newborn lambs, barn owls swooping overhead and a real fire engine to explore all helped make our visit to Herrings Green Activity Farm a pretty perfect day out!
We live in Aylesbury, and it took us just under an hour to get to the farm, which is located just outside Bedford. The farm entrance is well signposted, and there is car parking on site. We booked ahead, which I’d recommend, as the car park was already getting busy when we arrived about 20 minutes after opening time. The tickets are really reasonable at £9.95 for adults, and £5.95 for children between 2-15, with everything included in the price (April 2022)
Herrings Green Activity Farm is actually part of the English School of Falconry, and the first animals that you see are some very impressive birds of prey! There are different types of owls, falcons, eagles, hawks and more.
These birds are in low down shelters so it’s really easy to see them. Some of the eagles were huge up close, especially when they jumped off their perches to show off their wings! To the right there is a selection of smaller owls in a shaded hut – again really easy to get up close and see the birds in detail.
We loved seeing the beautiful markings on the barn owls. Here, the keepers were doing a ‘meet an owl’ experience (check the leaflet you get given on arrival for the times).
We moved round to the baby barn next, hoping to see some newborn lambs. We were in luck – lambs, fluffy chicks, calves and kids were all cuddled up snoozing. We were able to stroke the baby goats and spent a long time spotting the lambs hiding under their mothers. My almost 2 year old loved this part, and kept wanting to go back to see more.
After washing our hands (plenty of handwashing and sanitising stations dotted around) we headed across to the main picnic area. There are other benches dotted around the farm but this is a lovely shady spot with plenty of seating, a small play area and some more animals (parrots, turkeys, a skunk and a wallaby, to name a few) around the area. The children enjoyed a quick play and a snack, and we were ready to go to the arena for the bird display.
The display was excellent! The keepers are really experts, and gave an entertaining talk that kept my 4 year old interested throughout. The falcon was a highlight, swooping low over the audience with incredible speed and accuracy.
There was a chance for older children to come and participate when the barn owls were brought out too. The field where the bird show arena is is also home to some horses, the big Pirate’s Cove play area with slides and climbing frames, a tyre play area, mini golf and even the farm’s own fire engine to explore! Daily tractor rides also depart from here – we didn’t have time to try one out but they looked like a lot of fun. Heading back towards to centre of the farm there was another big bird area – including eagle owls, pelicans and a stork!
We decided it was time for an ice cream pit stop so went up to the tea room, where you can also purchase drinks, lunches and snacks. This is by the entrance and shop, with the toilets just outside. Accessible toilets and a baby change are both available.
The final part of our visit was to Tatty Mac’s farm area. Here there is another play area with mini diggers, tractors and cars to ride, a tractor to climb, pretend cow to ‘milk’, guinea pigs, rabbits and budgies, and a critter area with hedgehogs, stick insects and turtles. You can also visit the bigger farm animals here. We loved stroking the donkeys and horses and seeing the alpacas.
There was so much to do in such a compact area. There was no need for the pram as our toddler could easily manage walking around the whole farm, especially with so many spots to stop and sit or play. We visited over Easter when there was an egg hunt on, and we’d love to go back and check out some of the activities and special events hosted throughout the year, including toddler days, animal encounter experiences and other seasonal events.
