Frying Pan Farm Park — Attraction in Herndon

Nice, educational afternoon for kids. I took my niece and nephew and they really enjoyed visiting the various animals (there were tiny piglets when we went and they were oh, so cute!), riding the carousel and just running around and acting goofy in the outdoors.

I am not sure if my antsy, max-energy niece and nephew enjoyed the tractor ride or not, but I enjoyed the brief respite of chasing them and you do learn about the various areas of the farm, how it was started and some of the farming practices they employ (like growing all feed on the farm) so I recommend it.

The park is free but tractor and carousel rides are additional, though it is not significant. There are also walking trails if you can tear your kids away from the animals and playground to take a little nature walk - I couldn't, but another visitor had told me they are shaded and there is a little creek - so definitely worth checking out.

My advice: book your times for the carousel and tractor ride first thing and then plan your visit around that. There were several families that missed out because they didn't know you needed to get your tickets in advance and there are set times for both.

Sorry... no photos... I was wrangling two very energetic...

s hands and knees. She didn’t like that either. She even put up a leg to block him and glared at him most of the time even though he smiled at her. She made him feel so bad he cried. I had mom guilt for not saying something to her and then asking to get off the tractor ride. When we walked back to the car my two year, yes two, says,”That pink lady upset me. She upset you too.” Can you imagine being so mean to a small child and not smiling back so much that it hurts his feeling and he cries and then he verbally expresses it? A lot of things went through my head as to why she would act like this and I don’t want to assume in this day and age and in this area of the country that this could be true but sometimes biracial kids are frowned upon. Either way it wasn’t necessary to mom shame me or to discipline my child by a volunteer of all people. And a little friendliness and cheer can go a long way too. We will never come here again and a family coming in asked us about the ride and I dissuaded them from riding it because of the attitudes of the two people who are supposed to be representatives...

I left the farm feeling deeply disturbed by the treatment of the animals. None of the animals had access to water. Specifically the pigs were frothing at the mouth and sitting next to their dry spigots (for context, standard pig drinkers should provide at least 1 quart of water in 30 seconds for adult sows).

When I offered the pigs water, they frantically drank and rolled in clearly demonstrating how deprived they were. I finally got hold of the manager and I was yelled at and told that if water touches their ears they will die. This statement is not only false, it reflects a dangerous lack of knowledge of basic swine care.

I would strongly advise anyone who cares about animal welfare to avoid supporting this facility until major changes are made to ensure the animals on the property are cared for appropriately.

also the women in the giftshop was just...