108 weeks and 1 day | A day out at Folly Farm

A couple of weeks ago we visited the Bluestone Resort in Pembrokeshire and whilst we were there, had a day out at an amazing tourist attraction called Folly Farm.

It’s located close to Tenby so brilliantly close to Bluestone and a must-see if you’re ever down in that neck of the woods.

Whilst it’s name would suggest it’s simply a ‘farm’ there are so many things to do there. It’s a zoo, a fun-fair, a soft play centre, an adventure playground… all rolled into one!

As we went during term-time, it was fairly quiet although there were quite a few children there on school outings, which was lovely to see. Folly Farm is really geared up to learning and even though it’s an amazingly fun day out, you can see how much emphasis has been put on education. Throughout the park there are clever little touches — a rangers ‘hideout’ at the lion enclosure or a ‘Bug Hotel’ — showing how we can protect insects in our own gardens at home.

The park is split into sections and, as it was such a beautiful day, we started off with the outdoor activities. We went to…

The Zoo

There were so many different animals to see! Some were hiding inside, which was a shame, so we didn’t get to see them but everyone needs a bit of peace and quiet sometimes. You can’t blame the animals for wanting to get out of the spotlight occasionally.

Next we had a wander around the park — past the big wheel and a go-kart track — with my tiny boys making a beeline for the ‘Digger’ enclosure.

Brilliantly simple, it was a mini construction site that had been set up for little ones to play on that my two little kiddos thought was heaven on earth! They loved pretending to ‘drive’ the diggers and we spent quite a while here, watching them play.

And quite a while trying to drag them away too!

The Park

After finally managing to drag my little builders off the construction site, we had a walk around the rest of the park stopping off at a vintage style funfair — so many things to see — it was a real assault on the senses.

A lovely old carousel going round,  the smell of candy floss in the air and the noise of the side-stalls and games gave a real carnival atmosphere.

The Folly Farm Funfair

Finally we stopped off at the farm, to see the animals.

This was definitely a highlight for the Twinkles! As the zoo creatures were behind glass — or bars — I’m not entirely sure they really knew what they were looking at, half the time. They’ve seen big animals in their ‘Dear Zoo‘ book — which is still a firm favourite — but this was the first time they’d seen wild animals in real life.

The farm animals were far more accessible and this made them much more interesting to my little explorers. They patted the lambs and the goats and spent a lot of time looking at the turkeys (so bizarre when you see them up close — they almost look like characters from Dr Who)! Another plus point is that the farm — and funfair — are in huge barns so, if it was raining, it wouldn’t totally ruin your visit. We were lucky enough that the weather was glorious on the day that we went; the first proper ‘blue-sky’ day of the spring.

The Farm

The boys spent the last quarter of an hour in the farm barn graffitiing a huge chalk-board on the wall; made me think we could do with one of these at home! Perhaps when they’re a little older, I’ll repaint one of their bedroom walls with blackboard paint.

And then, just like that, it was time to go.

We spent a full — and very fun — day at Folly Farm. If you’re down in Pembrokeshire for any length of time, I would totally recommend taking a day out and going for a visit. So much to do, for kids of all ages. No wonder they’ve just won Best Day Out In Wales for 2015. Richly deserved — I can absolutely see why!

We were given complimentary passes to Folly Farm in return for an honest review — all photos, thoughts and words are my own.