Small Breeds Farm Park
Where are you based? We are just outside the small market town of Kington on the Herefordshire Powys border. On a clear day we can not only see Hergest Ridge but also the top of the Clee hill, with beautiful views all around us. We couldn’t ask for a better location for our animals to call home.
Tell us about the team: Our team is the farms greatest asset; they are the beating heart of the business. They are welcoming, knowledgeable, and full of enthusiasm for our animals and visitors alike. We have some members who have been here longer than most the animals and some new beginners, but they all play a vital role in the day to day running and upkeep of our beautiful animals and farm park.
Tell us about the recent changes: Gosh where do we start? Since last April we’ve been nonstop. We have refurbished our tearoom and gift shop with a new cake display counter, ice cream cabinet to enjoy on a sunny day. To accompany this, we are currently expanding our picnic area outside our tearoom so you can enjoy sunny days with an ice cream in our beautiful surrounds. Looking back to last year we built a new owlet room to hatch and rear our owlets.We built this with a specially placed window so you can also enjoy seeing these beautiful birds through different stages of their lives. And if you’re not too squeamish you may even be lucky enough to see them being hand fed by one of the team. We are also working on a new website where we can keep everyone updated on what’s happening here at the farm month by month.
What facilities do you have? We have a superb newly renovated tearoom and gift shop with a wide range of lunch options from tea and cake to toasties, quiche and soups.The whole farm is accessible, with free mobility scooter loan for whoever needs to rest their feet for the day. We also have onsite toilets and free parking. Along with our picnic barn where you can eat lunch amongst the straw bales, or our outside picnic area where you can enjoy the sun and animals around you.
What can our readers expect to see at a visit this summer? We hope we can be your animal fix this summer; we have one of the largest owl collections in the UK with over 30 different species from every corner of the globe with 5 of 6 British owls on display. One of the most talked about things to do at the farm is not only see the animals but also interact, touch and feed many of our farm animals, being able to get close and interact in the pens with some of the better-behaved ones. Our goats love playing with people especially our pygmy goats who can be known to make the average person look like a half-wit as they mastermind their escape while you enter their enclosure.
What are your admission charges? Our admission charges are £11 an Adult and £7.50 for a child. These have been frozen for the past 2 years even with our increasing costs we are determined to be an affordable day out for all.
Do people need to pre-book or just turn up on the day? No need to book, just turn up!
Can people visit in all weathers? Yes, when wet all our animals are undercover so you can still enjoy going in the pens with our animals without getting wet or cold, we are an all-seasons attraction.
Describe a typical day in your business: A typical day? What is one of those? All our team will agree we never know what our day will look like. We’ve learnt over time, when working with animals always expect the unexpected. One minute we can be making teas and coffee and the next chasing escapee ducklings. One thing that is always guaranteed is cleaning up animal poo.We have over 200 individual animals so we’ll leave it up to your imagination how much cleaning out we need to do. But at the end of everyday if our animals are all happy and healthy and our visitors have a great day, we can all go home knowing we did a good job.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know? We don’t want to spoil too much but one thing you can be sure of is you won’t leave without some type of furry, fluffy or feathery cuddle.
Article supplied by Small Breeds Farm Park