Yesterday was a grim day, wet, rather cold and oh so grey. We had planned a visit to Willows Farm for today, and although the weather forecast did not look good, we left the house, armed with coats, rain covers, umbrellas and wellies. We had been to the activity farm before and every visit so far has been a success. They have really thought of everything to make a visit enjoyable, no matter the weather so the prospect of another rainy day was not too daunting. Meet the youngest member of Willows Farm!
Surprisingly, none of our rain-proofing gear was needed other than the wellies and we had a glorious day out with friends.
Here are a few tips that might help if you are planning a day to Willows Farm in London Colney:
- Check seasonal events that might be taking place: lambing event, pumpkin festival, Spring special, Santa spectacular…
- Bring food and drinks. The tickets are pretty expensive, but you are welcome to eat your own food there, whether it been in the outdoor picnic areas or when your children are having fun in the soft play area (‘Wooly Jumpers’).
- Wellies are a must! Several of the areas in the farm get quite muddy (e.g. ‘Animal Feeding Area’ or ‘The Big Dig’).
- Bring spare clothes. If you manage to keep your children clean, dry and mud-free, then they will probably get sweaty from all that running around and having fun. Leggings/shorts and a clean T-shirt can come in handy!
- When paying for your tickets, get a bag of food for the animals.
- Take a few rubber ducks with you. One of our favourite activities at the farm is the duck race, but if you purchase ducks on the farm, they are £1 each. Bringing your own is not frowned upon.
- Make sure your little ones are wearing long sleeves and socks (or bring some!). They will need them for soft play (‘Wooly Jumpers’) and socks are compulsory in ‘Captain Chicken’s Egg Dodge’ and ‘Cotton-tail Village’).
- Get a free wristband (available just after the entrance and in the foyer of ‘Wooly Jumpers’) to write your contact number on and place on your child’s wrist, so you can quickly be reunited if you get separated.
- Take your little ones to ‘The Farmyard’ where they can hold a guinea pig.
- Head over to soft play (‘Wooly Jumpers’) an hour or so before the farm closes. It will be getting less busy and it will make the whole experience a lot more enjoyable (OK, bearable). It gets noisy in there, so a quieter time is best. On top of that, it means you can go on the slides with the kids without having to queue with lots of little people! The children and I had lots of fun on the rainbow slide.
Please note that I was not compensated in any way to write this post. I just love Willows Farm.
Leave a Reply