Tucked away down a country lane in Reddish, South Manchester is Reddish Vale Farm. The small animal farm is attached to a Riding School which also does birthday parties and whilst it doesn’t look like much when you pull up outside, it kept our gang of kids (ranging from 2 months to 6) happily entertained for quite a few hours.
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When we arrived one Saturday afternoon about 2pm it was quite busy and we had to queue to get in. It didn’t cost too much to get in £4 for adults, £3 for children and Under 3’s are free; but the real stroke of genius for me, was that for 50p you could buy a bucket full to the brim with animal feed. Whilst my girls (and the animals) really didn’t need a bucket each, we are talking about threenagers so we duly purchased 3 buckets, so they could ‘all have their own’. At 50p a bucket it clearly didn’t matter too much and I was very grateful to the farm for that.
As we went into the farm, my three squealed with excitement. There were little animals all over the courtyard of the farm and all the children already there were feeding them. It isn’t a huge area but the animals all come to the fences to be fed and the little goat who was wandering around was really friendly and very happy to be fed by anyone with a bucket of feed. The size of the courtyard is also reassuring as the little ones could wander about with no fear of getting lost.
Aside from the pigs, cows, goats and sheep that were in the outside courtyard there was also smaller animals in the barns which could be held and stroked (a little too hard I thought!).
Once all the feed had been eaten or spilt the kids moved onto the playground and mini indoor soft play. The farm has the usual selection of drinks and cakes in its café and we used this as an opportunity to keep the kids going a bit longer so we could go for a walk down by the lake. In retrospect this wasn’t a great plan as whilst no-one fell in they certainly gave us cause for concern at times!
The downside for us what that it seemed to close quite early and they could do with more toilets as this was very nearly an issue with a just toilet trained toddler – there is only one of each, but overall it was a lovely afternoon out in the fresh air and a great place for the kids to run around.
Karen Beddow founded Mini Travellers in 2014 while doing what she loves most...going on holiday!
Mini Travellers is for parents looking for holiday ideas, destination reviews, days out and things to do with the kids. We also have family travel tips, activity ideas and all other things family holiday related. Take a look at some of our latest reviews for holidays and day trips in the UK.
Wow – quite a crowd of you! It looks like you all had a great time and the children enjoyed getting up close to the animals. Thanks for linking up and sharing with Country Kids.
Bizarely this went into spam! Just found it! Yes 3 of the familes have 3 kids so always a busy meet up
Looks like a wonderful day out and great that the kids can get so close to the animals 🙂 x
Thank you it was a lovely day out. Great to feed the animals.
Looks like a lot of fun. I’ll need to remember to visit next time we’re in Manchester to see family. The kids would love it.
I’m sure they would enjoy it. It was lovely to feed the animals.
Wow what happy faces! looks like its really fun there. Hopefully they will listen to your suggestion about the opening hours and toilets =) #countrykids
thank you for commenting. It was lots of fun.
Children love connecting with animals don’t they? We used to be regular visitors at a similar place near us. My son is a bit big now for it to occupy him for very long now, but we still pop in when we visit the neighbouring park.
Thanks for your comment Erica
Sounds like a great place to visit and really reasonable too. Glad you didn’t lose anyone in the lake 🙂
#countrykids
Thanks I’m pretty glad too, it looked cold!
That looks like a fun farm for the children. Feeding animals is always good. What a great way to spend time with friends.
Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids
Wow looks like a lovely day out, not far from me either, I’ll have to try there next. G loves feeding animals! #binkylinky
If it isn’t far you should definitely go we had a lovely time.
Looks like a great day out and really good price, we have something similar locally but don’t go as it’s so so expensive for what it is there. My son loves feeding the animals though so I’m going to have to look around for hidden gems! #binkylinky
Looks a lovely farm & this petting corner sounds a lovely idea. Hope you had fun xx #binkylink
It looks like you had a great time. My girls love the farm and feeding the animals. Thanks for linking up to the #binkylinky
There is nothing like a day at the farm. Looks like it was a fab one for you all, the faces say it all. Reasonable price too especially when there are a few of you x Ax
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I always do a little jig when an animal attraction has feeding opportunities. It’s so utterly exciting for the kids, or at least mine, who don’t have pets.
me too, we are at a farm stay this week and I’m loving seeing the kids feed the animals.
I love it when you can have a whole day of fun for barely any cost. SO many places are overpriced these days! Looks like you had a lovely day! Thank you for joining in with #HappyDaysLinky. Hope to see you again next week! x
You will definitely see us again, thanks
This looks like such a great place!
Glad you all had such a good time.
Such a good place
looks like you had a lovely day great pics!
thanks Amy
I love, love, LOVE the photos. Looks like such a fun place to visit and such a cheap day out too. It’s not often you can go anywhere with kids without it costing the earth. Wish I lived closer!
Thanks for linking up with our #HappyDaysLinky – hope so see you again next week.
Jenna at Tinyfootsteps xx
You are very welcome Jenna. You will definitely see us again.
We keep meaning to go here, we’ll definitely have to go in the school holidays it looks fab 🙂