A day out at Farmer Palmers

This week we were invited to the unveiling of Farmer Palmers exciting new play barn.

Set to the left of the slide barn, it offers a whole new area of indoor play if the weather turns and was an immediate hit with Isaac and Eliza.

It is filled with features which will encourage roll play, get the kids moving and even a fantastic sensory area with cool lighting effects.  Isaac, Eliza and Olive were particularly taken by the life-size wooden cow who has taken up residence in the barn.

The play barn has a farm theme, with a playhouse complete with wooden kitchen and bed area, with stunning artwork that just has to be admired.  Climb on the bed to discover a tunnel that takes you to across a rope bridge to the wooden climbing frame and the giant curly wurly slide at the other end of the barn.

There is a barn within a barn that is filled with fun activities for the children including giant lego bricks and musical instruments. They are also building a wooden bookcase which will be filled with books for the children to read and relax.  The flooring is child friendly with soft artificial grass and rubber playground crumb.  There is also a small soft play area for the little ones to enjoy and lots of knooks and crannies to explore and find games to play.

The barn will be open to the general public from Monday 29th September and is sure to be a hit with children and parents alike. we struggled to get the kids out of there.  Speaking to the team at Farmer Palmers, this barn is going to house their themed activities at Halloween and Christmas and I can see it is going to make the most fantastic Christmas grotto!

We used to be regular visitors to Farmer Palmers as we had season passes when Isaac was little and renewed them every year until last year, when we took a break.  Going back on Wednesday made me remember what fun we had there and the kids really wanted to come back and explore the rest of the farm, so we returned yesterday for a full day out.

They have some old favourite activities like feeding and grooming the animals, but they also have some new additions, such as the pony rides which Olive and Eliza were keen to try out!

Both girls got stuck in with the animals, but there was another distraction – the park!  Filled to bursting with swings, climbing frames and even play houses they were in their element and Sebastian got to join in too!

We managed to lure them away with the promise of lunch in the restaurant and a run around the soft play area whilst we waited for our food to be ready, followed by the bumpiest tractor ride I have ever been on!  Olive and Sebastian didn’t enjoy it, but Eliza was squealing with delight the whole time.

We had wanted to feed the deer, but because the little ones didn’t enjoy the tractor we decided against it and went to cuddle some Guinea Pigs, see the milking demonstration and play in another play barn instead.  It was brilliant seeing Sebastian really getting involved and he had his first proper cuddle with a Guinea Pig, although he was more interested in poking the poor thing.

It is easy to spend a whole day at Farmer Palmers and we made the most of almost everything they had to offer, with the exception of the water play area as we had forgotten a change of clothes.

We finished off the day with a Piggy race where we cheered on our favourite – sadly none of the ones we picked won, but it was fun anyway.

For news (lots of cute newborns), information and offers you can find Farmer Palmers on facebook and on twitter at @farmerpalmers.  We will be back very soon!