The Big Sheep & Little Cow — Attraction in Bedale

A very expensive and poor experience. My little girl of 2 just wanted to see some cows, but 60 painful minutes later and £24 lighter she still hadn't seen them. I rang the big sheep little cow as we had just moved to the area. They told me the "last tour" was at 2pm so we headed down with her sister. Having visited many farms before, what I didn't expect was the £8 per head...and yes that's irrespective of age! However I'm a big believer in getting what you pay for so I was expecting something extra special ..well not in this case! After arriving at just before 2pm I was told(not asked) that I would be waiting for a family to finish their food- no problem I thought except I had a try to entertain a 2 year old in a seated area for what turned into 20 minutes. Again forgivable if it was worth the experience but what transpired was at best laughable. I don't want to take anything from the teenage guides as they enthusiastically followed their script to its painful room confining end and if you've never seen an animal before then yes this is for you. However if like the majority of the population you go to a farm to indulge your childs obsession of animals then don't waste your money. What you will receive is 20 minutes in a cold makeshift farmhouse kitchen being asked to identify inanimate objections such as an iron or a range cooker followed by a further 40 minutes on the Wikipedia of the tortoise, rabbit, guinea pig and rat. Again lovely if your not 2 and your not desperately trying to get into the court yard full of animals that you can see, which incidently turned out to be 5 pens of 2 pigs, some goats, 2 calves and a lama. Their final treat is to see 2 pens of cows and sheep before been given a further 5 minute talk on hand washing technique. I live in the country so dont get me wrong I'm a big advicator of farm hygiene when it doesnt take longer than the time spent with animals we'd spent £24 to see. After 60 minutes of been talked at my 2 year was hungry but in a true customer is always last ethos they had shut the kitchen. So the only plus point (i.e 1 star) was the slides which were immense fun, mainly because there was nobody there to explain what...

I visited with a family group on a lovely sunny day this month, there was a birthday party in progress and a few other families around but it never felt very busy or crowded. My stepmother had been previously so we largely knew what to expect and I don't think we were disappointed, we stayed pretty much all day and had a great time. For the age of the children in our group (14 months to 7 years old) it was pitched pretty well with the mix of farm and soft play available, I will also say that the soft play area worked out well for us when trying to keep the kids out of the sun for a chunk of time. We did bring our own food for a picnic and then bought drinks and ice cream while there. The kids enjoyed the lamb feeding (though some of ours were a little bit too young to really appreciate the informative narrative from the staff member) and the other animals (quite a wide range, from rabbits to cockroaches!) that they were able to interact with were also fantastic. The staff members we met were a credit to the venue with interesting facts about the animals and a lovely way with even the smallest children visiting. Signs to the venue and also around the site could definitely be improved, we missed the turning to the farm because the sign on the main road is obscured by foliage at the moment. Around the site it would have been nice to see signs pointing out the way to the animals. I also personally think that the entry price is also a little high, especially when there is additional cost for some activities there - possibly not great value for the smaller children. We emailed to book in advance as the website indicated that booking was required, also worth noting that the opening times listed on Google didn't match with the opening times listed on the website. Overall I would definitely say it was a...

It's good but not good. The animal guide/tour is fantastic as you're learning about the animals. Both guides we were with were great. Extremely informative and friendly, can not fault them, but when you want to do the Easter egg hunt or just want to see some animals without a guide, you feel a bit intimidated with how attentive they are. We didn't manage to eat inside or play in the soft play as we only saw the fridge at the start with sandwiches and some of the party can not eaten gluten so we can't comment on that. The go karts are great, though! The barrel train looks like fun - I chickened out and didn't think I'd fit, so I skipped it! 😅 We felt it was over priced in some ways - I have a 2 year old who likes to see animals and play but gets shy so the handholding experience for him is wasted minus the goats, he loved interacting with the goats! If you have outgoing children who like to interact with animals, this is a good place to go, but if you have a possible shy child who flip flops from confident to not, then I wouldn't recommend it. Staff are lovely, though. All the people we spoke to can not fault them! The information the young man was telling us was fantastic. He taught me a lot about animals that I didn't know! Keep up the good...