Fun where you least expect it (Whitehouse Farm Centre (Morpeth))

Name: NikkiH

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Product:	Whitehouse Farm Centre (Morpeth)
Date:	19/10/03 (265 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Educational, A great family day out, Reasonably priced

Disadvantages: It was windy and cold, Party a little expensive

My daughter's nursery seem to have an excessive amount of children who were born in between September and December. Since the start of the new school year, she has had an invite to a birthday party virtually every weekend, and even then the weekends that were free were filled with our own relatives parties. I need a part time job just to be able to afford all of the presents! Most of the time the parties at held at the local Giants Den or Mister Twisters (both within 5 miles), which are basically large warehouses, full of soft play and various apparatus, where the children can run wild for an hour before sitting down together to eat their party food and sing Happy Birthday to whomever the lucky child is that week.

Today, the party was of a different sort. It was on a farm, and the farm is approximately 25 miles away from where we live. I accepted the invitation, as my daughter is particularly fond of the little boy whose 3rd birthday we would be celebrating, but I was honestly dreading the whole experience, as whilst I like a bit of fresh air, I could never claim to be someone who embraced The Great Outdoors. I hated the thought of ending up freezing cold, covered in mud, and having to side step cow pats to save myself falling flat on my backside, the animals would smell really bad, and I would have to make polite small talk with parents I have minimal contact with at pre school apart from a polite hello now and again. Anyway, my daughter's excitement was strangely contagious, and this morning we both put on warm clothes, warmer coats, and set off in search for the farm.

I travelled northbound up the A1 from my house and headed for Morpeth in Northumberland. I had looked on the internet prior to leaving, and the website for the farm at www.whitehousefarmcentre.co.uk, assured me that there were clear signposts whether you approached from the north or the south, and they were right, but they did not just indicate which junction to leave the
A1 at, the signposts carried on right until I entered the farm, and the car part was clearly signed too. So far so good. No wrong turns and we were bang on time. The car park is nothing flash, just a concreted area, big enough to hold around 60 - 100 cars I would guess depending on how close they all parked to each other, and I am not sure if this would be big enough in the summer, but as the website just states 'there is plenty of free parking', I have a feeling that there must be an overflow car park which I did not see when I entered.

The first thing that struck me on entering was that Health and Safety is clearly an important issue on the farm, and there seem to be notices reminding you of this at every turn. I certainly did not object to this, as it ensured we all enjoyed our time on the farm in safe surroundings. The owners of the farm have tried to make it as user friendly as possible, but the onus is very much (and rightly so) on the visitors to use their common sense when coming into contact with the animals especially. The entrance to the farm is less grand than I was expecting, but then I have never been to a working farm so I had nothing else to compare it to. The entrance is just a pathway in the middle of 2 little wooden huts which are the payment kiosks. As we were attending an organised birthday party, our names were on the list, we were handed a brown paper bag of animal feed, and told where we would be able to find the rest of our party. If you were not a guest at a party, then the entrance fees are still very reasonable. £4.20 for adults (senior citizens pay the reduced price of £3.20), children over 2 years of age pay £3.20, and under 2's are admitted free of charge. You can also choose to purchase a family ticket, which admits 2 adults and 2 children for £12.95, which could save you up to £1.85, which is no huge saving, but a saving nonetheless. If your group consists of more than 15 paying visitors, then you will qualify
for a 10% discount. The party costs £7.75 per head (an adult is admitted for free with each child), which is more expensive than the soft play style parties which are most common, but it is excellent value for money, as you could stay there all day if you wished. There is the choice of a cold buffet for the children, which was the choice at today's party, and it consisted of sandwiches, crisps and fairy cakes with juice for refreshments. The hot choice would have been preferable, as the children were all freezing, and this option would have given them the choice of standard chicken nuggets, sausages, burger or a vegetarian option, with chips, baked potato, beans or vegetables.

We all met up in the cafe area 'Nelson's Pig Trough', which had a small soft play area attached to it. It was nice and roomy with lots of tables and chairs, although I am sure in peak season it would not be as relaxed or as easy to find a table. The cafe offered a wide selection of refreshments, ranging from sandwiches, baked potatoes, up to more substantial meals, and the standard tea, coffee and soft drinks. I advise you to ask for a coffee only if you like it very strong, as it took the lining off the back of my throat when I took my first mouthful today! There are also picnic areas, so feel free to bring a picnic, although the warmer weather would make this seem more appealing than it did today! The children played for 20 minutes, until our guide told us it was time to get wrapped up and go to meet some of the animals. We were taken to the next barn down from the cafe, where the animal feeding and handling takes place. The look on the children's faces was magical. I thought my daughter would shy away from them but she was right at the front! The boisterous goats were our first port of call, and my daughter fed them, and once again I was pleasantly surprised by her surge of confidence. In the same barn, there were also pigs (very big, very noisy, and very very
stinky), sheep, rabbits, chinchillas, lizards, geckos, hens, turkeys, and various rodents. We were allowed to spend as much time with each animal as we liked, and this resulted in a nice leisurely study of each animal, and time to answer the many questions a 3 year old can fire at you without feeling that we were being left behind. As we got to what seemed like the end of the viewing area, we saw that there was a circle of small plastic chairs, which the guide asked all of the children to sit on, so that she could bring out some animals for them to handle, stroke and have pictures taken with. Here my daughters confidence hit a brick wall. The handlers brought 6 pretty small rabbits out and handed them out to the children. My daughter held one for a fleeting second, and then decided that she was not happy and quickly passed the poor rabbit to the unsuspecting parent to her right, and then decided that she loved the animals, but only at a safe distance! A 2 week old rabbit was brought out for the children to stroke, but not hold as it was so young, as were some mice, which they all found very hard to keep a hold of, but the main attraction was a gecko in the middle of shedding it's skin which the adults found just as fascinating as the children. When the animals were safely put back in their pens and cages, we moved on to the outdoor section of the party.

First stop was the adventure playground. It is not huge, but big enough for about 25 children without them crashing into each other at every turn. There was a maze of tunnels, a climbing frame, a rope bridge and some swings, which kept the children amused until they looked down the hill and saw a mini race track with pedal go karts, and all sprinted towards them only to find that the majority of them were too small to reach the pedals, but not to be defeated, us mums and dads were recruited as pedallers, whilst our offspring were in charge of steering whilst perched on our knees. This was a good laugh
, and helped us all build up a healthy appetite just in time for lunch. After about 30 minutes in the play area, we were summoned by our guide to say that lunch was nearly ready, but first we were all going on a tractor ride, so we all jumped on board a trailer attached to a tractor and embarked on a 5 minute long ride around the fields. The children loved, but the looks on the windswept faces of the adults hinted that they were not so enamoured with the ride! If you want to take this tractor ride when you visit the farm, it is not included in the price of admission, and costs and extra 50p per person, and I am confident on a warm summers day, it is worth every penny.

The lunch was slightly disappointing. We were herded towards the picnic barn, which is accesible to anyone visiting the farm, and in there was a small separate room used only for birthday parties, but it was just lacking in party atmosphere. The decor was bland, the tables were tiny and unsteady, and the selection of food, as I have mentioned was not what I have come to expect from children's parties. There was nowhere for the parents to sit, other than on the floor, so we had to find a seat in the main barn, and luckily as it was quiet, we situated ourselves next to the windows of the party room, so we could see in, and the children could see us. On leaving, the children were presented with a goodie bag, which had a picture of the animals for them to colour in, and a trumpet. Not great, and not good value for money on my eyes. We were then left to our own devices, and as I have said were welcome to stay or go. We opted to stay for a while longer, as there were many more animals outdoors which the children had not seen.

We discovered that we had barely seen any of the animals, and managed to find Chick Nursery, Duck/Wildfowl Pond, Guinea Pig World, and Rabbit Village. We were also told that in February and March, the children are more than welcome to see the new lambs and piglets
being born. We also found a large slide which the children came down in rubber rings, but it looked too high and too fast for the children in our group so we gave it a miss. On our way back to the car, we also happened upon the gift shop, which was a little treasure trove of trinkets, but also there were facilities for face painting, candlemaking, and traditional arts such as stone masonery and a blacksmith. We spent very little time in here, but I will make sure I make this one of the first places I go to when I go back for another visit. There is also a centre for autism run by The Toby Henderson trust, but I must admit I could not see it, so have no idea what facilities it offers.

We all had a great time, and after 4 hours decided we were all too cold, and too tired to carry on, but we all left satisfied, my daughter brimming with stories to tell her dad, and all looking forward to visiting the centre many times again in the future. The guides, and other members of staff were friendly and helpful. The toilets were clean and there were many sinks with antibacterial soap so that we could all wash our hands after handling the animal feed. If you are in the area, and are looking for an interesting, and activity filled day then I would suggest you look no further than The Whitehouse Centre. There is a map on their website, or you could contact them on 01670 789998/789571. They are open 10am - 5pm every day, although during term time they close on a Monday, and in November and January they are only open at weekends. I would recommend a quick look at the website if you are planning a visit, because there are details of special events which are planned, such as my personal favourite, a Nativity play involving the children visiting the farm with the animals playing their part too. How cute is that!!! As well as offering the visitor attractions, the site also has enough land to welcome caravanners and campers, and especially welcomes Scouts, Guides and the like. D
isabled access was pretty good from what I could see, as there were no steps that I can remember, and other than odd pothole in the roads, it was all on one level with ramps into the cafe and gift shop.

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