Down on the farm...IMAGINE THE BLISS of staying somewhere where you can open the door onto a field with space to run, jump, throw, catch and yell for sheer joy. Although, when I say open the door, that should be, more accurately, lift up the tent flap.
I took my teenage daughter Rebecca, 14, and my son Sam, who’s 12, to stay on a Feather Down Farm, a new holiday experience that is popping up all over the countryside in farms from Scotland to Cornwall (and also in France, Holland, Germany and the US). Not only did this mean that they would have room to run around, it also meant they’d have no excuse not to, as the Feather Down ethos is totally devoid of electricity.
So it was bye-bye laptop, DS, Wii and PlayStation for the weekend (though Rebecca did manage to sneak along an MP3 player to listen to on the journey), and hello badminton racquets, Frisbee, boomerang, football and skipping ropes.
We stayed at Canfield Farm near Horsham in Sussex, with five tents in a field of buttercups. Wherever you choose to go in the UK (there are 25 farms currently on offer and more due this year), you’ll find the same set-up: a group of tents (thoughtfully spaced) surrounding a chicken run – for your breakfast eggs – and a communal bread oven. The tents are something else, with wooden fl oors, wood-burning stove, two bedrooms and a boxed-in cabin bed that we all fought over. There’s even a loo – though it looks ominously rustic with a hole in a board and a wooden lid, it is in fact a fully functioning flush toilet. There’s a kitchen sink with running water – cold of course – and a zinc worktop worthy of a French village bar.
‘It was a real surprise,’ said Rebecca. ‘When you see the tent from outside you don’t expect what’s inside.’
Canfield is a proper working organic farm that rears beef cattle and has pigs, sheep and a livery service, and the tents are another way of diversifying to help the farm survive. They sell their own home-reared homemade sausages, burgers and mince in the Honesty Shop, along with milk, veg, fruit, cereal, pasta, mayonnaise, olive oil, etc. So even the most disorganised campers will find everything they need there. It was a big hit with the children too. ‘I like the shop because they trust you to write everything down,’ said Sam. ‘It makes you feel like part of the family,’ said Rebecca, ‘because there are games to borrow and books to read as well. I like the fact that you can walk up and collect some cheese while the kettle’s boiling. It’s like a great big larder.’
When we stayed we were the first family to do so with older children – all the others to date had been barely more than toddlers – and owners Tim and Sarah Bargman were curious about whether the set-up would keep older children amused. I too had my doubts but we needn’t have worried. There’s something about camping in a field where lambs run free – and sneak in to explore your tent when your back is turned – that charms the most world-weary teenager. Crouching down with a hen on your lap or feeling a cow’s rough tongue as you offer it a handful of grass are timeless, tireless pleasure for children of all ages. Sarah swears the animals seem to benefit too. ‘The cows spend all their time down in the corner by the tents, even though they have the run of the field. They’re quite nosy!’
I took my teenage daughter Rebecca, 14, and my son Sam, who’s 12, to stay on a Feather Down Farm, a new holiday experience that is popping up all over the countryside in farms from Scotland to Cornwall (and also in France, Holland, Germany and the US). Not only did this mean that they would have room to run around, it also meant they’d have no excuse not to, as the Feather Down ethos is totally devoid of electricity.
So it was bye-bye laptop, DS, Wii and PlayStation for the weekend (though Rebecca did manage to sneak along an MP3 player to listen to on the journey), and hello badminton racquets, Frisbee, boomerang, football and skipping ropes.
We stayed at Canfield Farm near Horsham in Sussex, with five tents in a field of buttercups. Wherever you choose to go in the UK (there are 25 farms currently on offer and more due this year), you’ll find the same set-up: a group of tents (thoughtfully spaced) surrounding a chicken run – for your breakfast eggs – and a communal bread oven. The tents are something else, with wooden fl oors, wood-burning stove, two bedrooms and a boxed-in cabin bed that we all fought over. There’s even a loo – though it looks ominously rustic with a hole in a board and a wooden lid, it is in fact a fully functioning flush toilet. There’s a kitchen sink with running water – cold of course – and a zinc worktop worthy of a French village bar.
‘It was a real surprise,’ said Rebecca. ‘When you see the tent from outside you don’t expect what’s inside.’
Canfield is a proper working organic farm that rears beef cattle and has pigs, sheep and a livery service, and the tents are another way of diversifying to help the farm survive. They sell their own home-reared homemade sausages, burgers and mince in the Honesty Shop, along with milk, veg, fruit, cereal, pasta, mayonnaise, olive oil, etc. So even the most disorganised campers will find everything they need there. It was a big hit with the children too. ‘I like the shop because they trust you to write everything down,’ said Sam. ‘It makes you feel like part of the family,’ said Rebecca, ‘because there are games to borrow and books to read as well. I like the fact that you can walk up and collect some cheese while the kettle’s boiling. It’s like a great big larder.’
When we stayed we were the first family to do so with older children – all the others to date had been barely more than toddlers – and owners Tim and Sarah Bargman were curious about whether the set-up would keep older children amused. I too had my doubts but we needn’t have worried. There’s something about camping in a field where lambs run free – and sneak in to explore your tent when your back is turned – that charms the most world-weary teenager. Crouching down with a hen on your lap or feeling a cow’s rough tongue as you offer it a handful of grass are timeless, tireless pleasure for children of all ages. Sarah swears the animals seem to benefit too. ‘The cows spend all their time down in the corner by the tents, even though they have the run of the field. They’re quite nosy!’At Canfield there’s a wood (with stream) to explore – full of bluebells early in the season; refreshingly shady in high summer. To venture further afield, the Bargmans have bikes for hire – including ones with baby carriages attached. Pick up one of Sarah’s laminated instruction sheets and head off: perhaps to Slinfold for a pub lunch (more underneath). Sarah and Tim have two small children – Toby, 8 and Charlie, 5 – and have tried and tested every ride and destination as a family. They are brimming with useful information, from which children’s play area is best, to which pub serves such huge child’s portions that it’s perfectly acceptable to ask for one meal and two plates (that’s the Fox Inn, in Rudgwick).
Any drawbacks? Well, it is fun cooking on a wood-burner, but not so good if, like me, you like to drink lots of tea and coffee throughout the day. I cursed myself for not taking a vacuum flask so that I could have kept water reasonably hot. I really couldn’t justify lighting the stove just for a pot of tea, especially as it can take up to an hour to get hot enough to boil a kettle. Tim says it should take about half an hour but I didn’t manage to get it going that quickly. It may be a man thing: I think I was probably too cautious and didn’t chuck enough wood on to begin with. Plus when we stayed the temperature hit 25ºC every day.
Would we go again? We’re already planning our next trip.
Would we go again? We’re already planning our next trip.
Days out near Featherdown Farm
Cycling
Bike rides on the North and South Downs
For a gentle start to a weekend’s cycling, try tackling a small section of the Downs Link Cycle Route, from Rudgwick to Slinfold. The Downs Link was established in 1984 to link two National Trails: the North Downs Way and the South Downs Way. It was originally a railway line built in the 1860s from Guildford to the coast at Shoreham-by-Sea, but fell foul of cutbacks in 1966. On this stretch it’s level and easy to cycle on (the track is gravel) and what’s best for small children is that it’s completely car-free (except where you have to cross the busy A281 at the start) – though horses do have priority en route as the track is a bridleway, too.
This undemanding 3.7 mile section passes through woodland where you are likely to spot – or hear – woodpeckers (all three UK species), and warblers too. In picture-perfect Slinfold there’s the ideal destination in the Red Lyon pub, which has a play area as well as a children’s menu. Red Lyon, Slinfold. (01403 790339 www.theredlyon.co.uk)
For further information on the entire 37-mile Downs Link route and to download a pdf guide leafl et, go to: www.westsussex.gov.uk/downslink
Adventure Fun
Fishers Farm Park
Wisborough Green
Fishers Farm has reinvented itself as a giant kids’ playground. There’s an 8m climbing wall (mums and dads can have a go too), toboggan run (you sit in a sort of giant doughnut), bumper boats, trampoline, jumping pillow (like a cross between a trampoline and a bouncy castle), zip slides and much more. Then there are the animals: children can take a gentle amble on a donkey or have a horse-riding lesson in the sand school. Although the park has been designed with 2-11 year olds in mind, older children can still fi nd things to do. Peak price admission for a family of four is £55; it’s cheaper in term time and in winter.
01403 700063
Twitching
RSPB Reserve
Pulborough Brooks, Pulborough
Brush up on your birding skills while following the clearly marked 4km nature trail through fl ood meadows past pools and ditches, deep hedgerows dotted with hides and viewing points – often with volunteers on hand to help with identifi cation. Stay until dusk for the chance to spot barn owls hunting, or to hear nightingales singing in May. Lapwings, redshanks and warblers all breed here. Good tearoom to head for at the end of your walk. Nature trail open sunrise to sunset, visitor centre and tearoom 9.30am-5.00pm.
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves and follow the links
01798 875851
Every year Tulley’s Farm plants a maize maze with a different theme – past designs have included a dragon, owl and pirate ship. You’re practically guaranteed to get lost and, though it is possible to fi nd your way through in an hour, in practice it’s nearly impossible. Don’t panic if you really start to tire and you’ve had enough. Just wave your pole and fl ag frantically and a member of staff will come to your rescue. The maze is checked every day at closing time for lost souls and no one’s been forced to spend a night in there – yet.
Maize maze and fun park open 12 July – 14 Sept. Admission for family of four: £27.50. 01342 718472
01798 875851
Pick-Your-Own
Tulley's Farm
Turner's Hill, Crawley
A little bit further afi eld and with fewer things to do, but the added attraction of Pick Your Own. If you want to build on the Feather Down ethos of doing things the old-fashioned way, send the kids out into the fi elds to pick gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, tayberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, plums and pumpkins in season.
Every year Tulley’s Farm plants a maize maze with a different theme – past designs have included a dragon, owl and pirate ship. You’re practically guaranteed to get lost and, though it is possible to fi nd your way through in an hour, in practice it’s nearly impossible. Don’t panic if you really start to tire and you’ve had enough. Just wave your pole and fl ag frantically and a member of staff will come to your rescue. The maze is checked every day at closing time for lost souls and no one’s been forced to spend a night in there – yet.
Maize maze and fun park open 12 July – 14 Sept. Admission for family of four: £27.50.
Other farm holidays...
Working farm holidays
National Trust working holidays let you try haymaking, scything, apple picking and other farm skills. Costs from £90 per person per week, which includes food and dormitory accommodation. Children over 16 only.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk and follow the links.
0844 800 3099 for the booking office
With World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) no money changes hands: you get food and accommodation in exchange for working on an organic farm. Join the organisation (fee £20) and use the website to match your requirements: some farms can take children and dogs.
WWOOF PO Box 2154, Winslow, Buckingham MK18 3WS
WWOOF PO Box 2154, Winslow, Buckingham MK18 3WS
Farm holidays
Farm Stay UK is a nationwide network of more than 1,200 farms that offer everything from B&B in a Georgian farmhouse to bunkhouses and campsites, all on working farms.
Farm Stay UK, National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire CV8 2LG;
024 7669 6909
Cwmiar Farm in Carmarthenshire, West Wales has six self-catering cottages for rent. Children can join in farm activities feeding chickens, ducks and sheep. There are also horses, cats and dogs on site; playground with swings and zipline; riding lessons can be arranged.
www.farm-holiday-cottages.com
01559 395375
Sherbourne Lodge Cottages are on a working farm in Suffolk. Hand the kids the specially designed map and let them follow the farm trail that takes in wildfl ower meadows, badger watching, pond dipping and mini-beast hunts. If the weather is wet, turn them loose in the games barn.
01787 210885
At Higher Trevinnick Farm near Wadebridge in Cornwall, children can help look after a whole menagerie of animals, including ponies, cows, pigs, goats, ducks, geese and hens. Farmer James will give them tractor rides, they can take the farm dogs for walks, or simply explore the fi elds and farmyard. Two detached cottages to rent.
07866 517645
Stay on a family-run cattle and sheep farm in Aberdeenshire at Stonefolds Farm Cottage and Bothy – lambing time in spring is popular with kids when they can help with feeding. Good area for bird-watching too.
01651 891267
All the info...
Booking
Canfields Farm, booking via www.featherdown.co.uk or 01420 80804 (central office). Prices vary but weekend ranges from £295 in April to £435 in August (Fri pm - Mon am). A week-long break starts at £845 in August. Prices are per tent and each tent sleeps six. The season runs from April to October.
Bike hire per day
£8.50 adult; £5 child. Bring your own helmet
Must take:
Wellies
Torch
Matches
Bike helmet
Rain gear
Sun hat
Might come in handy
Vacuum flask
Parasol and base
Picnic blanket
