Cantref - Adventure Farm in South Wales — Attraction in Wales

Went there for a birthday party a couple of weeks ago, absolutely shocking from start to finish had to pay almost £50 to attend (4 Adults) as our grandchildren were staying on site. As a campsite it is in a lovely setting. The menus looked great, boasting local produce but the food was horrendous, had already been warned not to have the pulled pork burger which I was going to have, so myself and several of the kids ordered burgers. Mine was was worst I have ever eaten and I have had some bad ones over the years, hate wasting food but couldn't finish this one it was so dry. But the kids were completely inedible, they were charred hard black on outside, raw in the middle. There is lots for the kids to do but most of it looked a little worn. Had major concerns for the well being of some of the animals in the petting area, there was 2 they brought out with skin conditions, particularly the rat, who had scratched himself raw, had lost a lot of fur on back and was covered in bloodied scabs, when I expressed concerns of it being continuously stroked to the worker, she seemed to think that her explanation 'it's just because of the warm weather we have had lately' being cause of him scratching would satisfy, I looked at her in disbelief. My point was DO NOT EXPOSE THE POOR ANIMAL to lots of people stroking him, apart from how much it much irritate his skin more, the cross contamination between child-animal does not seem to be a consideration. Now onto my biggest concern, hard to believe you haven't already heard it. Part of the party was pony rides for the children, there were 2 members of staff there, one to sort the children out with right size hats and help them using the steps to get onto the horse and the other to take them around on the horse. The lad left watching the kids seemed to find it hard to manage the 3 that was waiting, although they weren't doing much wrong, he seemed to get wound up if they touched the steps, so I went in with them, then as the horse was half way around with my 5 year old grandson on it back, it stopped and spread his legs out refusing to move, the girl who was leading the horse tried pulling him all ways and then pushed him, which resulted with him starting to buck a bit with my grandson on it. It was then at this exact moment when the lad with us walked out of the gate, at first I thought he was going to assist, then he said he was going on break, I said 'Surely you are going you help her with the horse and wait for your replacement to arrive 1st?' He told me that there was no one else coming to replace him and he 'had to go because if we get checked my manager will get a fine if I don't take my break'. Which is when I informed him as he continued to leave, if there was no replacement then he better send the manager out immediately because leaving one member of staff to sort out both sides, who was already struggling to control a horse, where she herself could be injured, they would a lot more to worry about the fine of him not having his break and would be minimal compared to the one they would have leaving a place inadequately attended, especially when there were witnesses to show he witnessed the difficulties his colleague was having and if anything had happened to one of my grandchildren would be least of their problems. Manager did not come out, they sent a girl with another...

We visited cantref Monday february 20th 2017 for the lambing season , we payed the full price on entry. We were very disappointed to say the least! We went straight to the lamb feeding where there where several lambs and mothers but unfortunately we wernt able to feed them, in turn the member of staff held the bottle and looked as though he had just started and forgot parts of his 'script ' he had learnt the night before! We didn't get to feed the lambs, but he did pick up 1 where there where 20 + children and parents gathered around him pushing and shoving,we where told we could t wash our hands in this barn and to walk to another because it was broke and hadn't been fixed as of yet. We then went to play in the sand whilst waiting for the sledge ride to Open, we waited 15 minutes because what we could see looked like they where short staffed . there was no height measurements so my 4 year old waited in line patiently and when he got to the top he was told that he was too small and had to go to the slide on the bottom of the hill where my partner had to physically pull him down as there was no water to help, we then went to play on the football score and what a diasapomtment again , the net was falling down the signs where falling off, it looked very run down. We walked back to the top to go on the pony ride where we had to pay an extra cost for , whist waiting we noticed the swamp ride was open but by the time we come from the pony ride it had closed and we had to wait once again , there seemed to be no organisation there, we went over to the petting area where the chinchilla was being bathed , all we seen was a sleeping ferret , a chinchilla and 2-3 rabbits , the area where you could walk around and see the outside animals such as the pigs, horses, cows and sheep was closed , the pedal boats where closed with dirty water , the main attraction for the day was the indoor play centre but if I had known this I would have gone to my local one and saved time and petrol money, the trampolines where very dirty and no access for small children, there where lots of empty animal cages which was very disappointing. I didn't think it seemed very fair to charge the same price now as they do in their peak times when there not even quater of the animals, good job we used our sat nav as the place wasn't very well sign posted considering its practically on top of a mountain in the middle of no where, the 1st sign we seen was on the turning to go into the gates of cantref , whilst leaving with no signal on our phines, we got lost and ended up 10 miles out of our way , if there where sign posts we would have been able to get back onto the main road very simply , but there are lots of small , windy country roads. I was very disappointed with our first and last visit to canttef, we left with 2 very disappointed children and 2 angry adults with wasted time and money ! I would not recommend this place your better off putting the extra petrol money in and traveling the extra miles to folly farm , at least you get to see lions and penguins for...

What a waste of a beautiful day. I was so disappointed because I chose Cantref over other providers because their website says that they allow canter in their rides. However, I kept asking for even a short canter along these beautiful hills but Evie, who my girlfriend and I kept referring to as the sergeant, kept yelling orders and avoiding any kind of fun. At one point she even yelled at us because we were taking a selfie!! She single-handedly made the only sunny day in my entire weekend in Wales feel absolutely miserable. Imagine having a beautiful horse, a vast green hill, a gorgeous sunny day, decades of riding experience and not being able to go on a nice canter because someone with power over the ride feels like it’s not your day. Constantly yelling, keeping everyone in a single line, everyone at the slowest possible pace, god forbid anyone had any actual fun riding with Cantref. I do have to say that the horses are in great shape and most of the staff were nice. However, after having ridden all over the world, I’d say this has to be the most unfortunate decision I made regarding horse riding vendors. If you’re considering going horse trekking with Cantref, keep this in mind: 80% of your ride will be on the actual pavement, on a narrow road with cars coming and going. That means stopping against the curb to let cars go by. Roads in this area of Wales have high walls of bush so there will be no beautiful landscapes of any kind during this part. You will just see road and the person in front of you. Eventually you arrive to a beautiful hill with sheep where you will do a quick little loop at the same speed that you were walking up the road. Then you come back the same way. So a 2.5-hour ride is really 2 hours walking on a blind road and 30 minutes walking around a hill. To be honest, I would’ve been fine if they had let us go for a short canter on this nice hill. That’s all I really wanted. But now I’m stuck with this mediocre experience on my (most likely) only ever trip to Wales. Cantref, please do not promote canter if you’re not going to provide it. It’s a big decision factor for experienced riders. And please teach your staff to provide a service that is more focused on your customer’s expectations. We traveled a long way to get to you and we were very lucky to get one sunny day in the long weekend. What a waste of a long trip and a beautiful day to spend it getting yelled at and prevented from the experience I went...