Green Dragon Eco Farm

Now the weather is getting warmer it’s great to be outside in the fresh air. It’s supposed to be Spring, so I was hoping to see some baby animals over the school holidays. I had a look at some of the animal farms near me and Green Dragon Eco Farm, with its promise of hands-on activities and animal encounters, sounded just what I was looking for. Green Dragon Eco Farm offers 44 acres of farm to explore, indoor and outdoor play and lots of hands-on activities in the Animal Barn and the Pets’ Corner.

HAVE A LOOK AT OUT VISIT TO GREEN DRAGON ECO FARM

Green Dragon Eco Farm Animals

We headed to the Animal Barn, which is under cover, and it was full of pens with lots of very cute baby animals. We saw fluffy chicks and ducklings huddled under heat lamps, the Gloucester Old Spot piglets were gorgeous and rolling about in their pen and there were lots of lambs to see, as well as goat kids.

Outside we walked along the path to the Paddocks. The goats were very friendly and came right up to the fence when I produced our bag of animal feed (a bag of animal feed is 50p and available at the entrance to the farm). The goats were easy to feed and even Mr 3 could happily feed the goats all by himself. Animal farms near me don’t always allow you to get very close to the animals, so this was a real novelty for us. There was lots of laughter, lots of nibbles and I wished that I had bought another bag of animal feed!

Next, we went through the gates to the Pygmy Goat Walk-Through – a roped walk through the pygmy goat field which allows you to get even closer to the animals. This area was a real highlight as the goats were happy to see us and came onto the roped walkway so we could stroke them. The pygmy goats are the perfect size for little ones to meet and they’re very cute too! A few animal farms near me don’t allow you the opportunity to get close to the animals and I’ve not seen anything like the Pygmy Goat Walk-Through anywhere else – it’s a great idea.

After a visit to the Handwash Station we went for a wander around the paddocks and saw chickens busy roaming freely in and out of their hen house, pigs happily snuffling and gorgeous cattle snuggled in beds of hay.

Green Dragon Eco Farm Play

There were lots of animal encounters timetabled for the day and we returned to the Animal Barn for the lamb bottle feeding but it was absolutely packed thanks to the school holidays, so we opted to enjoy the outdoors and explore the Adventure Playground. We found two climbing frames, a large sandpit and a bouncy pillow trampoline.

For days when the weather isn’t so good there is a soft play barn with a café and a messy play barn with indoor sand-pits and bouncy castle.

We had to stop at the Pedal Kart Area and try a few laps. The go-karts have seats that are easy to adjust but Mr 3 was too little to reach the pedals. There is a separate area with ride-ons suitable for young children but the big go-karts are hard to resist when your older brother is whizzing about on one!

Green Dragon Eco Farm – Where To Eat

Inside the timber clad Eco Centre there was a cosy café and there were tables and chairs outside for warmer days. When we visited it was pizza day and the café were serving pizzas for £6, straight out of their own wood-fired pizza oven. There was also a separate café in the Soft Play Barn and there were plenty of picnic benches in and around Dragon Field, right next to the climbing frames.

Green Dragon Eco Farm is a relaxed and friendly place to visit, where you can blow the cobwebs away and run off some steam in the great outdoors, but there’s also lots of places to shelter if the weather turns. There’s plenty to do and we had to leave after three hours but we could easily have stayed for at least another hour.

TOP TIPS FOR A VISIT TO GREEN DRAGON ECO FARM

• Green Dragon Eco Farm is on Claydon Road, Hogshaw, Buckinghamshire, MK18 3LA – don’t follow your SatNav, instead click for directions.
• When we visited entry was £9 for adults, £8 for children (2-16yrs old), children under 2 yrs old go free.
• Animal feed was 50p a bag when we visited. Buy a bag or two at the entrance if you’d like to feed the goats.
• Green Dragon Eco Farm run a daily schedule of animal encounters but you can also book experiences like Farmer For A Day for children 7-11 years old.
• There are lots of picnic benches if you want to take your own food. If the weather is bad you can eat your picnic in the Messy Play Barn or the Picnic Shelter next to Dragon Field.