Farmer Palmers winter experience.

Who says you can’t go to the farm in winter? Usually we wait until the Spring but on this occasion we brave the cold weather.

Dear mummy, frost is on the car when we head off to Dorset to Farmer Palmers adventure farm. It’s over an hour’s journey from our house and it’s bright and freezing!

We wrap up warm and head off on our epic adventure into the unknown.

Luckily for my mummy she has her side-kick Grandma with her for support as I’m up to my usual tricks and mischievous ways today.

It’s just before Christmas and part of the #LemurLinkup (a regular bloggers meet in Dorset) we met some of the Farmer Palmers staff who handed us a leaflet and a discounted entrance voucher to the farm to see Father Christmas.

This is why we’re heading there today to see what the farm is like.

The car journey is a bit of a slog. I sleep the majority of it, much to my mummy’s delight. We head straight down the M3, M27, A31 and onto the A388 which takes us past Poole. The farm is situated about 10 minutes away from Poole with good road and a large car park.

It’s easy to find. We seem to be the only ones here as it’s still early and very cold. It’s a Monday and when we unpack the boot, we see other families start to arrive which is reassuring.

The Staff are VERY friendly which is lovely. A lot of them are teenagers and they are all dressed up as elves and in red and green (because it’s Christmas time) The entrance is clearly signposted and has large walkways, perfect for buggies.

We enter the farm’s courtyard which is surrounded by loads of barns and outbuildings which house cows, sheep, goats, guinea pigs, chickens and large hay bales.

The main barn is where you can see the demonstrations and feed the animals. It’s a perfect space with viewing platforms. There are lots of things happening at the farm during the day and an up-to-date timetable can be found on their website. We fed the goats and the sheep today and it was a great experience!

The first open barn area has a mini track area for toy tractors, picnic tables and a large bouncy castle (which is protected from the elements) a great idea, as one thing we hate is wet bouncy castles. We have loads of room to play and walk around.

We love the custom murals and artwork on the walls and everything is branded up in the Farmer Palmers logo which looks professional and organised.

The second barn is head to toe hay bales and slides.

There is also a small milking shed which does milking demonstrations. It’s nice finding out how the staff care for the animals too and you can find out

The main outbuilding is the large restaurant called the Hen House and soft play centre. However today the soft play area is busy and noisy with older kids using the toddler areas which is a shame.

The indoor soft play area is a bit cramped too and clearly geared up for parties, with separate areas with long tables and chairs in. The restaurant’s food was good and hot, with a wide range of picnic boxes, hot kids meals and lots of cake! My mummy enjoyed eating the Christmas themed cakes and biscuits.

The newest addition to Farmer Palmers is a wooden barn which has been fitted with a Santa’s grotto, a sensory tunnel, hiding below a wooden play structure. Inside is another small soft play area with soft play bricks, a large fake Cow (which creeped me out) musical instruments and loads of toys. There is a large wendy house with fully fitted kitchen inside as well which I spend a lot of time in.

Outside there are a wealth of activities and things to do. We explore the wooden play area and venture further out into the fields to see the donkeys and wooden sculptures. There is even a woodland walk which we sadly didn’t try as it was too cold.

In the fields my favourite wooden character is the caterpillar and we spend a lot of time climbing and running around.

We had a fab adventure to Farmers Palmer and burnt off a lot of energy in the fresh air! Well worth the entrance fee of £8 and you get a lot of fun for the whole day. One of the best farms we’ve been to 🙂 It’s an added bonus that the farm has an indoor soft play area too and decent restaurant. Shame it’s so far away from us and not our local farm. We can’t wait to return in the warmer months with a picnic blanket and friends for the whole day.

Love Bella x