We invited Lu who blogs at A Life Of Lovely and her family to visit Pennywell Farm, Devon.
Find out what she thought…
A Life of Lovely’s Pennywell Farm Experience
We arrived at Pennywell farm at around 10.30am on Sunday morning, the opening times are between 9-4, 7 days a week. In our party of seven, there were four adults, two teenagers and one toddler.
We were welcomed by a lovely lady who gave our grandson a couple of stickers, which he was pleased about. At the front desk, there are options to buy cuddle blankets, which is essential if you want to get up close and snuggle with the animals, and animal feed for both adults and babies.
Once you’ve passed the reception desk, you arrive in the well-stocked gift shop where you can buy all manner of goodies from cuddly toys, to stationery to fridge magnets and various other lovely things.
Greeted By Animals
You’re greeted straight away with an array of little cuties, once you’re through the shop. These are tortoises, rabbits, mice and guinea pigs. We were advised to follow a yellow line that lead us to even more animals!
You’re free to wander around and meet all of the animals and you’re able to feed most of them. We loved seeing all the goats, their kids, the pigs and their piglets and giving them endless strokes and hand-feeding them all. You can even groom the shetland ponies and donkeys, which was sweet.
Pennywell Farm is home to a herd of red deer, which is the UK’s largest native deer. Though they were in moult, it was still fantastic to see these majestic animals and get to hand feed them.
There are signs all over the place to remind you to wash your hands after touching and feeding the animals and plenty of hand washing stations to enable you to do so
Pennywell Farm Activities
There are activities every half an hour to make sure you’re kept entertained throughout your visit. These range from things such as pig feeding, bottle feeding, ferret racing, pig racing, pony pampering, goat milking, goat feeding and more.
Mini Pig Racing
We had a couple of absolute favourites (okay, more than a couple!). The pig racing was adorable. We were taught about the enrichment they require and that pigs are the third most intelligent animal, which surprised me. They were super dinky and had to navigate through chicanes, over different jumps and around bends, which was ever so clever. I think the piglets were my absolute favourites, but more on that later.
Tractor and Train Ride
We also went on a tractor ride, which was a huge hit with Arthur as he’s obsessed with tractors (what two-year-old isn’t?). My daughter took him on the little train for a ride, where he sat at the front with a huge smile on his face.There is a little willow maze that you can navigate your way through and a lovely viewing tower that allows you to see for miles.
Despite us staying at the farm all day, until close, we didn’t get time to do everything. There’s just so much family fun you can have here! For example, we didn’t play mini golf and we didn’t bottle feed the animals. We genuinely just
couldn’t fit everything in! So we’ll be back I’m sure!
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Animal Cuddles
This was my favourite activity. You get to use your cuddle blanket finally. We actually went to this activity twice. There are miniature piglets, rabbits, guinea pigs and mice and you can choose which ones you want to cuddle. We cuddled one of each animal.
The piglets were so docile and friendly and just went to sleep on my lap. My daughter-in-law was besotted with the mice because they were so friendly and inquisitive. My grandson loved the guinea pigs and my daughter loved the rabbits. As I said, this was a huge hit with all of us.
Food and Drink
It wasn’t long before we needed a coffee break. There are various different places to get food and drink throughout your visit. The food ranges from sausage rolls, pasties, stone-baked pizza, ice cream, delicious-looking cakes and more.
I liked that in every area of the farm, you were able to easily access amenities such as the little cafes, shacks and barns. They had barista-style drinks, which were so good. At lunchtime, we shared a couple of pizzas and were very impressed with both the speed they were cooked and the
quality.
We had lunch in the barn, which also housed the soft play, such as bouncy castles and bouncy slides. This was Arthur’s first time on a bouncy castle and he thought it was the best thing ever! I love the way it was arranged because there was a specific one for under four-year-olds, one for over eight-year-olds and another mid-age one. There was even a section for babies where they could crawl around without being squashed by older children. It was really well thought out.
You can even take your own picnic because there are plenty of benches and picnic tables dotted around to have a rest.
Final thoughts on Pennywell Farm
My whole family had such a great visit to Pennywell Farm, despite us being all different ages. I thought it might just be something that mostly appeals to younger children but I was wrong in thinking that.
The price per ticket ranges from £14.95 for a child over three to £18.85 for an adult. I think, for an entire day out, that’s quite reasonable considering all there is to do at the farm and how well the place is maintained. Also how well the animals are cared for. Children younger than three go for free and there are concessionary prices for OAPs and carers, which is good value for families.
FAQs
When is Pennywell Farm open?
Are there any special events happening at Pennywell Farm?
There are often special activities for Easter and during the Summer holidays.
Is there a gift shop at Pennywell Farm?
So, we hope you have found the review of Pennywell Farm by Lu and her family helpful. As you can see it’s a fun, family day out for all ages! Follow her at A Life Of Lovely on Instagram to discover more ideas for family days out and adventures!
Check out our website for even more family day out ideas!
Or if you’d like to see what other families thought about attractions across the UK. Then, you won’t want to miss reading our reviews and recommendations blogs!