A family day out at Raglan Farm Park
We spent Easter Monday at Raglan Farm Park with Cardiff Daddy’s family – eight adults and six children aged between 3 and 7.
It was the first time we had visited and although we weren’t at Raglan Farm Park in any official reviewing capacity, I wanted to write about it anyway because it’s a great option for a family day out.
A 35-minute drive from Cardiff, it’s very rustic and simple. The indoor areas are all in barns, the signs are written on pieces of wood or paper, and the toilets are in portacabins – but the back to basics approach just adds to its charm. It’s been a working farm for more than 40 years, and has expanded in recent years with a successful farm shop selling their own and other local produce.
More recently, they’ve opened the doors to the public with the farm park, which is home to a wide range of animals and plenty of outdoor and indoor play areas for children.
There are two undercover play areas – one with three inflatable bouncy castle structures and a trampoline, and another with a good-sized soft play structure for older children and a smaller one for toddlers. All three were a hit with my children and their cousins. There’s also an indoor sand pit, which my toddler in particular loved.
The barn with the inflatables also had a number of animals to meet, including lambs, two emus called Rod and Hull and their two gorgeous babies, and pigmy goats. The entrance barn is also currently home to two pregnant donkeys.
You can buy bags of carrots for 50p and all the children loved feeding the animals. The back of this barn also has a fascinating collection of vintage tractors and farm equipment from over the decades.
Also indoors is a cafe serving hot and cold snacks and drinks. Plus there’s plenty of picnic tables both indoors and out. We’d taken our own food and had no trouble finding a table big enough for all 14 of us.
The outdoor area is really impressive – I hadn’t expected it to be so spacious. The views of the surrounding farm fields are stunning.
Outside, we met more animals including donkeys, sheep, and the most adorable alpacas, all living in huge grassy enclosures.
You can go on a tractor and trailer ride for £1 per person, taking you to see some of the other animals living on the farm, which we thought was a fair price, plus there are free-to-use plastic tractor ride-ons, for children to journey around the park on.
There’s outdoor play equipment including lots of swings and a small climbing structure, as well as a huge zip wire.
The dads were pleased to see an area to play football at the back, which kept them, I mean the kids, entertained for a good 45 minutes.
The weather was quite interchangeable yesterday with a few rain showers. We managed plenty of time outdoors but the indoor areas were perfect when the rain started. I can imagine it gets really cold in winter though!
Entry is reasonable at £6 for adults, £5 for children (with reductions to £5 per person for families of more than four), and £4 for OAPs (prices correct April 2017). They also have a loyalty card scheme, giving a free visit after you have collected five (I think) stamps.
We’d seen on their Facebook page that kids wearing Easter bonnets could get in for free on the day we visited, which saved us a fair bit of money, so it’s worth checking their social media pages for special offers.
Raglan Farm Park may not have the same glossy features as other local farm parks such as Cefn Mably or Greenmeadow, but it’s a lovely place for a family day trip. It feels authentic and not at all commercial. We arrived at 10am and stayed until 3pm – and considering it was a bank holiday, it wasn’t overly crowded either.
Raglan Farm Park, Chepstow Road, Raglan, NP15 2HX. Open daily, 10am-5pm.
Have you been to Raglan Farm Park? Do let me know in the comments below, on the Cardiff Mummy Says Facebook page or by tweeting me on @cardiffmummy
We paid for our own entry and Raglan Farm Park did not know we would be writing this review.
For more ideas of family days out in South Wales, visit the Cardiff section of Cardiff Mummy Says, or follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
Aww I thought I recognised you! We were also there on Monday, (I follow you on instagram) My kids always have a great time and they’ve added lots since we last went. Emma x