A Day out at Bocketts Farm, Surrey

I’ve been back at work for almost two months now and one of the main things I’ve noticed is that finding time to meet up with Mum friends is now near-on impossible. Gone are the days when I used to plan my weeks around coffee dates and cupcakes, now we all seem to be back at work, we’re lucky if we can squeeze in the odd text here and there on a Whatsapp chat!! Thankfully a few weeks ago my friend Kate and I were able to secure a date for a catch up and were lucky enough to spend a lovely day in the sunshine at Bocketts Farm in Surrey.

Bocketts Farm is a family friendly working farm nestled in the heart of the beautiful Surrey countryside. Located just south of Leatherhead and close to Junction 9 of the A25, it’s really easy to find and has a huge car park which is useful when you need to wrestle with prams, wellies and the odd run away child. Our visit was during half term week and even though it was busy enough to require wardens to direct the cars, there was still a good a amount of space available in the car park.

I’ve visited a lot of farms in this first 15 months of parenting, and I have to say that Bocketts Farm was one of the best we’ve been to. There was soooo much to see and do for children of all ages.

On entry we were given a little animal passport and the option to buy a bag of animal feed for £1. The bag was massive so if you have two children, I’d say one bag would be enough (unless of course, this would start an argument, then what’s an extra £1 if it’s going to prevent WW3!) The animal passport was fun, it had areas for children to collect seven stamps from different areas around the farm and there was a checklist of activities to complete on the back.

Indoor Play

We arrived at the farm a little before lunchtime, so rather than heading straight to the farm-yard, we decided to pop over to ‘Little Hoppington’ which is an indoor enclosure consisting of little wooden houses and is home to all the guinea pigs, rabbits, chipmunks, chinchillas and mice. This area was really cute, with some adorable little lionhead bunnies called Nala and Simba. Animal handling sessions are held throughout the day giving children a chance to stroke and meet their new furry friends up close.

Our little bunnies were pretty hungry at this point and beginning to turn into little angry lions, so we hot-footed it over to the indoor play area to have a spot of lunch before exploring any further. It was a sunny day outside, but this area would have been great even if it was raining. It’s a huge indoor play barn with trampolines, a four lane astro slide and a mini soft play area for the smaller babies. Ettie and Arthur had a great time, I absolutely love this photo of them holding hands. It was so cute watching them play together in their little blue farm outfits.

Big Animal Barn

After lunch we headed through the farm yard and over to the animal enclosure to feed the goats, sheep and ponies. This is where the big bag of food came in handy, although it was myself and Kate who ended up feeding the animals. Ettie isn’t a big fan of furry creatures so initially kept her distance, preferring to stand back and give them a bemused look and wonderment while she decided if they could be trusted!

As the day went on, she got a little braver, edging a little closer to the side of the animal enclosures, to the point where she almost touched one of their noses! I think it helped having her buddy Arthur by her side.

A little word of warning about the animal enclosure is that all buggies needed to be parked outside. That was fine for our two tinkers, but it might be something to think about if you have more than one child. Petting the animals was lovely, but you’ll need to wash your hands afterwards and there was a little washroom just as you exited the barn.

Outdoor Play

There was a huge outdoor play area at the farm which had everything from a pirate lookout, Go Kart track, adventure playground and even a woodland maze. All of these things looked great fun and the children playing looked like they we’re having the time of their lives, but Ettie and Arthur were a little bit young for all that excitement so we took them on the bouncy pillows instead. This area was good, because there were actually two pillows, one for the over 5’s and one for little tots like ours. Even though it was half term week, Ettie and Arthur had the pillow all to themselves so we let them have a crawl all the way to the top. It was such a contrast to last time they were at a farm together bouncing in our arms.

After we were done bouncing around, we took a long walk around the outdoor paddocks. I think this might have been our favourite part of the day. There was so much space for Ettie and Arthur to run around and meet some funny looking animals (no offence Mr Llama!). As a parent you’ll know that nothing makes you happier than seeing your little peanut having fun, and to see our two babies who’ve only really just learned to walk, running around after each other squealing and giggling. Well it tugged on all the heart-strings I can tell you!!

They even paused for a cuddle at the end!! Tooo much!!

We walked the whole way round the Farm Track, past the Pig Race Track, the deer paddock and the Kitchen Garden until finally we were back at the beginning near the Big Animal Barn. Tractor rides depart from behind the barn every 15 minutes, but we didn’t jump on board this time as it was getting late.

On the way out of the farm we discovered the next best thing, there was a tractor speedway track for the under 5’s and both Ettie and Arthur absolutely loved it! Ettie absolutely loves playing on the tractor at her Daddy’s cricket ground so you can imagine her excitement when she got to sit on one of her very own! This was another moment when I realised our babies weren’t actually babies anymore! In my mind they could both barely walk, never mind speed around on a tractor.

We had such a lovely day at Bocketts Farm, if you live in the area and haven’t been yet, I’d totally encourage you to go. It’s one of the best farms we’ve been to. Adorable animals, tons of activities, loads of areas to run around, friendly staff and a lovely place to be.

The farm is open seven days a week from 10.00 until 5.30pm. Entrance to the farm costs £10.50 per adult and £10.95 for children over two (Children under 2 are free). They also offer great value after school rates in term time only, where entry after 3pm is half price at £5.00. See the Bocketts Farm website for full details of dates and prices.