Bucklebury Farm Park visit with toddlers

We’ve been out and about quite a lot lately at weekends, catching up with our online friends.  One place we visited was Bucklebury Farm Park, near Reading. It’s not far off the M4, so really easy to find. 

It was free for N to get in and about £8 for adults so not a bad price for everything there is to see & do.  Luckily it was a clear day, but absolutely freezing so not that brilliant for playing outside (although N doesn’t seem to feel the cold too badly).

Now the little ones are toddling all over the place it’s a lot harder to keep track of them, letting them run wild while the mums try to chat, and being open makes that hard too.  

They all had a go on the jumping pillow, there were some old tractors for them to sit on (needless to say he loved those), plus swings, fort/castle, train and various other play structures in the outdoor play area.  

It was the first time N had been in a bark play area, so he quite enjoyed picking up the bark.  Thankfully not much went in his mouth, although quite a bit came home with us in his trouser turn ups!

Of course there were the obligatory animals, including some escapee goats.  We weren’t sure whether these were meant to be out or not!  N loves animals so it was good for him to see some goats and more unusual animals that we don’t have on the farm.

There’s several places to eat – a restaurant/cafe, a picnic table area inside & out, and a kiosk/stand selling hot snacks.  We took picnic food but ate it in doors. My only comment would be that they only had 2 high chairs in the whole place.  Considering it was a family type of day out, I’d have expected them to be able to cater for more babies/young children.

Inside they also have slides/drop slides for older children, so if the weather’s not as dry you do have some alternatives, but the indoor area was quite small so it was crowded as it was a weekend at the end of the Easter holidays.  I think it’s really only a place for dry weather as if you went in the summer holidays, then found the rain turned up, it wouldn’t be big enough for everyone to stay dry.

We didn’t do much else other than see the animals and go in the play area, but there’s always activities going on – feeding the animals, petting sessions (that’s for pet type animals, not the other type of petting!), tractor rides, den building, so loads of various ideas to keep a variety of different age children happy.

Have you ever visited Bucklebury Farm Park?