Farmer Palmers Review: Day Out in Dorset

Days out. Love them or hate them they are an essential part of life whether you are a parent or not. I personally love going on days out with Alyssa – to watch her face light up at new and different places or at places we know and love and want to visit time and time again. We’re very lucky that here on the South-Coast of Dorset we have numerous places we can go to make an amazing day out. Strangely considering how close I live to it, a place I have heard lots about but never been to is Farmer Palmers. When they asked if we’d like to head there for a day out, we were very excited though a little dubious given the weather of late. However, we needn’t have been…

Right from the start, Farmer Palmer’s Farm Park has a rustic charm all of it’s own. A simple entrance with lots of information and very friendly, welcoming staff makes it great right from the off. They even had a dog area out the front where you can leave your pooch to enjoy a drink and some fresh air rather than leaving them in the car whilst you and the kids have fun.

As I said, friendly staff greet and welcome you to the park and provide you with a leaflet full of all the information about the park including animal show and feeding times and then you’re set and ready to go.

There is so much to see it is hard to keep up especially as the kids just want to go everywhere and anywhere. The unexpected twist I found with Farmer Palmer’s Farm Park is that it doesn’t matter whether you go on a bright and sunny day or wet and windy, there will be something to keep you occupied for hours.

There is a “tractor driving area” where there are loads of little kids ride on tractors in varying sizes and difficulties that the kids can drive around. There are also small and big piles of hay for them to pick up and move around. This is outside a covered space, where if you pop inside there is a brilliant inflatable bouncy castle/assault course type of thing which is surrounded by picnic tables to be used for homemade lunches.

To one side of this is the dairy shed where you can watch a demonstration of milking and here a talk on all things dairy. There is also the pre-school soft indoor play and soft play area which was a huge highlight for us as towards the end of our visit it began to drizzle so we were able to head on in, remove our muddy wellies and the kids could run around, play in the sensory tunnel, build with giant lego or play in the wooden house.

In the open barn next door there are loads of slides set up at varying heights and levels and all supported by big bales of hay that the children can jump into, climb all over and generally get out all that energy on.

There is a huge cafe/restaurant area which I have to say serves the MOST DELICIOUS chips and homemade cakes I have had in a good while. I’d honestly go back just for them! There are lots of tables, chairs, highchairs and they can all be moved around to get everyone in. If you have older children, this is also where the access to the older kids soft play is…though trying to keep my two year old out of there was quite a feat I can tell you – I distracted her with the chips!

It has to be said though, Alyssa’s favourite part of the whole Farm Park was the outdoor play area. In summer months you’ll want to take your shoes and socks off as almost the whole area is covered in sand. It’s an almost completely wooden play park, with swings and slides and areas that include water play too! There are wooden, brightly coloured play houses with various different chairs and play ovens in for kids imaginations to go wild as well as a small music station where kids can add even more noise to the squeals of laughter.

There is also an outdoor bouncy castle and next to this a go kart track with lots of go karts powered by the pedal work of mum and dad or whomever the kids can convince to drive them round.

What Farm Park would be complete without the animals – there is a lovely walk through the outdoor pens where we saw everything from ducks to sheep and goats to pigs. You can also walk across the adjoining field and head down to the woodland walk or hop on a bumpy tractor ride – though be warned it is indeed very bumpy! Don’t forget the inside animal barn where you can see some of the bigger animals up close, some little animals like guinea pigs and even go to a lamb feeding session.

Overall, our day was amazing – I took both Alyssa and Lily as well as Nonna and we had a wonderful time. I think that it is great value for money and am now waiting for Alyssa’s birthday to get her an annual pass. I’m even tempted to have her little birthday party there this year too!

If you’re looking for a great day out, come rain or shine in Dorset, look no further than Farmer Palmer’s Farm Park!

*We were given entry in exchange for a review. All opinions are our own.