Bowood House with Tractor Ted‘s Little Farm Review
Bowood House
with Tractor Ted‘s Little Farm
Reviewed by Amanda Hayes
Bowood House, Calne, Wiltshire is set off the main road by a very long drive surrounded by woodland. You can’t see the house at all for quite a while so you really don’t know what to expect. You arrive into a huge grassy car park with ample parking for all and a very short walk takes you to the café and ticket booth.
We were soon inside and armed with a map we set off for the first attraction, Tractor Ted’s Little Farm. Outside are several pedal tractors suitable for younger children and a climb on replica of Tractor Ted. Inside is a large animal barn containing lambs, goats, calves, and gerbils. The highlight for my son were the chicks, they ranged from those still inside the incubator, to day old ones and ones that were several weeks old. They were gorgeous. The barn is spotless and all pens are full of clean straw and fresh drinking water and have a wrapped bale of straw to stand on so even the youngest child gets a good view. The area is appropriately staffed and has plenty of hand washing basins, soap and towels to use after touching the animals.
As you leave Tractor Ted’s farm and walk through the well-kept grounds you start to get a sense of scale of the gardens, they are immense leading down to a large lake, but at this point you still don’t get a glimpse of the house. We followed the sign to the adventure playground, and the only reaction was wow, it was unbelievable. Huge slides, rope nets and swings for the older children, mini assault course, sand pit, ball pit and trampoline for the younger ones. It really is extensive and extremely well maintained, surrounded by well mown picnic areas with plenty of seating and tables and a kiosk for drinks and snacks. You could probably spend all day here if you wanted and by the look of the amount of families unwrapping large picnic lunches I assume a lot were.
After spending plenty of time testing out the various play equipment we headed on down through the grounds until you turn a corner and see the house and formal gardens, the views are breath-taking, when the gardens end fields and trees stretch as far as the eye can see. The gardens are immaculate, not a weed in site, hedges trimmed, tulips in flower, just a beautiful place to sit and relax. Inside the house are rooms set out the way they would have been years ago, letters, pictures and exhibitions of clothing and gifts given to the family and also the restaurant and a small but well stocked gift shop. The exhibits are fascinating and well worth taking your time over. It was especially interesting to find out that Oxygen was discovered in Bowood House in 1774.
Feeling peckish by now we made our way back to the café via the gardens taking in the lake views, various walks run around the lake and woods, and the grounds are so extensive you could spend hours just wandering. The café has a selection of hot and cold food such as sandwiches, jacket potatoes and cakes and between us we tried them all out. All were tasty and good quality with normal eating out type prices, not cheap but certainly not outrageous.
It doesn’t matter if you are a couple, friends or family there really is something for everybody here. Bowood House has immaculate grounds, great walks, breath-taking views and plenty to keep the kids entertained. We only wished we lived closer so that we could take advantage of the yearly membership deal, although with day ticket prices ranging from £11.50 for adults and £6.50 for children age 2-4 it’s already great value for money.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets: Adult (12 years and over) £11, Senior Citizens £9.50, Junior (5-12 years) £8.50, Infant (2-4 years) £6.50, Family (2 adults, 2 children) £33.50.
For more information or to book tickets visit www.bowood.org.
Bowood House and Gardens, Derry Hill, Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 0LZ | 01249 812102
