Dangly bits are called toggles! Did you know that? (Court Farm Country Park)

Member Name: JEHodgson

Product:	Court Farm Country Park
Date:	16/08/01 (281 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good fun, Very good price, Lots to do

Disadvantages: Probably not so much fun in the wet, though there are still plenty of things to do in the barns..

We had our first holidays in Somerset this summer, making a change from our usual venues in Cornwall and Devon. To tell the truth, we actually had little say in the matter- we left it late to book our holiday with friends, and the nearest we could get to Cornwall for 6 people (and a toddler!) was in Somerset. Enough of that though, what this opinion is about is one of the places we visited. It was a new challenge for us, taking an 18 month old on holiday, so we had to find somewhere engaging for him. As we stocked up on dozens of leaflets from the Tourist Information Centre, we saw one for 'Court Farm Country Park- the big family day out' , with '25,000 square feet of undercover fun' . Well, with the weather the way it was last week, the word 'undercover' was the clincher for us- especially with the Tractor Rides! So, off we went, up the M5.

*******The promotional information, *********
********prices and opening details**********
The leaflet itself is very well done- it presents the farm in a very good light, listing all the attractions and prices, which are pretty good- £4.75 per adult, £3.50 per child or a family ticket ( 2 adults, 2 children) for £15.00, saving £1.50 if you have 2 children. They do other discounts for larger families and groups, and under 3's are free. ( Handy hint? There is also a discount voucher for 1 free child with 2 paying adults available in the map leaflet of tourist attractions for Somerset 2001 that you can get for free at the Tourist Information Centre.) OAP's get a slight reduction, to £4.25. The times they are open are: "March until November 10.00am-5.30pm. November until March 10.30am-4.30pm.Closed Mondays Except Bank Holidays. Open daily during school holidays. "


********Getting there****************
The problem was, the leaflet is so good, we were expecting more when we got there. It was easy enough to follow the brown tourist signs off junction 21 of
the M5 to get there, and it was only a couple of miles, but we were surprised to find such a small car park, and with plenty of space left in it too! It was happily free of charge. It looked very pleasant, just not at all what we expected.

***********Going in*****************
As you go in through the covered in decking area (no doubt valuable if queues form when it is raining), you go through the building which is home to the entrance till, the shop and the 'café' area. You walk out into a larger area where you can see the paddock with the pony in, which children were happily having rides on. The helpful lady on the till had told us how to navigate the entire farm in one route, but it was a very long and detailed set of instructions which was a bit much to remember, and so we made our own way- it wasn't difficult, as it turned out, so don't worry- you won't get lost.

*********First things first************
We followed the path left past the (reasonably clean and pleasant ) toilets and about 30 or so yards away, there were the first 4 attractions, all together. On the left, an enclosure containing a number of deer and a llama, which were all very friendly- one of them was very keen to push through the wire to get to Thomas! The nearest corner of their enclosure was rather muddy and churned though which they didn't seem to mind, but I found a little sad, and do watch out for nettles round the edges if you are wearing shorts (speaking from personal experience!)

Right by that is the tractor ride- a tractor and trailer that takes a group of people on a ride round the field. Nothing earth shattering, but Thomas and the other small children found it very exciting! Every so often , a very helpful man comes to shout out 'Tractor rides!' and then drives you around the bumpy field in the trailer. It lasted longer than tractor rides do in some other similar places, though only 4 or 5 minutes in reality- it jus
t seemed more (and I don't mean that negatively!). From here you could also see the 'Big Cat'- more of that later!

Next to this was a pen containing some goats which were very keen to eat Thomas' shoes, as goats are wont to do…

The playground is also here- 3 large trampolines, some swings and climbing things, and a 'skyway' rope to slide down on the pulley. This was popular too, especially with those who were not really in the right age range to go on them (by a good 20 years….)

***********Whatever next?***********
The next thing was to head back towards the main section where we came in- this is the way to the rest of the farm, but also was the way to get food from the 'café ' area. They made us some nice sandwiches to order, and we went on our way to the rest of the farm. Outside of here, a little way onto the main field, there is an old tractor embedded in the ground for playing on, and a playhouse by a pen containing some small goats. After removing Thomas from the tractor, you then need to walk by the pony paddock and stables (including some small ponies and a BIG shire horse), and then get to the 'barn' section, where there are different things in the big barns: it was also from here that you could ride on the 'big cat'- no, not a lion, but an amphibious, all-terrain 8-wheeler, which was driven by someone very fond of high speed handbrake turns! I steered clear with Thomas while the rest of our party went on it, and they all said it wasn’t quite as scary as it looked when watching.

*************The Barns*************
The animal barns had cows, sheep, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, assorted birds and more.... all sorts really, and a lovely experience for those children who haven't been to a real farm; though we were a bit puzzled at what appeared to be a tin bath with 3 goldfish in… Sadly, Thomas was now in full tractor mode and was more inte
rested in the parked farm machinery, but we enjoyed the animals, as did the other children around us. We didn't get to see or participate in the bottle feeding the baby lambs- we were there at the wrong time sadly.

The other barns house loads of play equipment for wet weather- to quote the leaflet: "24m aerial skyway, trampolines, climbing frame, mast swing, stepping stones, wobble bridge, slides, sand pits, springers, tractor world" …(no prizes for guessing where Thomas was drawn- Tractor world is an area for the little ones to get on the pedal around tractors, JCB diggers etc.- sadly, they were a bit large for him to ride on, but he enjoyed pushing them round and had to be dragged away! Do watch out for the future dangerous drivers of tomorrow running riot in there too…) There were also a number of owls by one of the barns. Lots of lovely things to do if it is wet. This also houses the VERY important hand washing area- the farm is very hands on with the animals, so this is a vital part of the trip.


*************That's about it************
A few extra points to make- an extra £1 to go on the cat and ponies, the gift shop is small but adequate for this kind of place, the staff were all very friendly and helpful, and though there is lots to do in the barns if it rains, I wouldn't want to trudge across the field section if it got muddy….There are more things you can do with the animals if you time it right, walking them, feeding them etc., but we didn't. Boo.


*************Summary***************
Yes it was rather, fortunately for us. Summery that is. (Hah, thought you'd read an opinion of mine without a bad joke did you?)
So, to sum up, Very nice place, smaller than we expected, but big enough for smaller children really. Very friendly staff(That's how we discovered that the bits under a goat's chin are called toggles, not dangly bits!), easy place to get to, was
n't very busy (even on a pleasant day in August), which enhanced our visit as there was no queuing for anything at all.

***********Yes, but did you like it?************
Yes we liked it. If you already live on a farm, I wouldn't bother though! For the rest of us who don't, I'd say give it a go. It was a very nice day out at a very reasonable price.



If you want more info, email them on courtfarm2000@yahoo.com
or try the tourist site, 'About Britain' on www.aboutbritain.com/CourtFarmCountryPark.htm

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