Old MacDonald’s Farm
Brentwood, Essex
Reviewed by Patricia Shaw
Situated next to the M25 between junctions 27 (M11) and 28 (A12) you will find this lovely farm and attractions park. Surprisingly the motorway despite being easily visible is not in any way intrusive and most of the time we were blissfully oblivious to its existence.
Coming from the M25, the farm was easy to find and there is a good sized car park. There are plenty of brown tourist signs from the M25 to show you the way, but a word of advice – make sure you look carefully at the map to avoid an unnecessary return trip up the A12 on exiting the M25!
We visited as a family of 2 adults and 3 children, 2 of whom are aged 5 and one who is 2 and a half. We were lucky with the weather as it had been raining earlier in the day. Plenty of people of all ages were enjoying themselves but it was certainly not overly busy. The park is pushchair and wheelchair friendly with plenty of seating all around.
All the staff were very friendly and helpful although some of them didn’t look as though they were enjoying their work much.
As soon as we arrived the kids could see the rides, they were really excited and couldn’t wait to have a go on them. We counted 5 free rides in total all of which were greatly enjoyed by the kids. A lack of queues meant they were able to have a number of consecutive goes without waiting around. Adults are able to go on all the rides which means that even really young ones are able to enjoy them. The only ride which has any restrictions is the roller coaster which has a minimum height of 1m. In addition to these rides, the bouncy barn (inflatable slide, castle and trampolines) provided unlimited bouncing fun but it was unsupervised and relied on people complying with the rules.
There are plenty of other play areas all of which were very varied and all of them had benches where parents could sit nearby. The adventure trail was good fun and there were 2 soft play areas one outside but undercover and one inside by the entrance.
Dotted around the park there are a few animated features. These run automatically once an hour and children are entertained by a “show”. We watched 2 of them and they gave us the chance for a welcome sit down in the shade.
Overall, there was plenty to entertain the children without costing you any more than the entrance ticket. However one downside was that there were far too many coin operated attractions most of which cost £1 a go. You could find yourself spending a fortune if not careful! Personally I just told the children that I didn’t have the right money and we didn’t use any of them.
Dotted around the farm there are a number of life-size model cows which have been painted in a number of styles such as a zebra, leopard, and even “spider-cow”. These were great fun to look at but seem to be just decoration. It is a shame that there isn’t some sort of quiz or trail for the children to follow to try to find all of the cows in the park.
Visiting a farm I had thought that the animals would be the main attraction with the rides as an extra. At times it felt like it was the other way round. Nonetheless there was a great variety of animals ranging amongst others from the expected goats, sheep and pigs to the more exotic wallabies, rhea, meerkats and even a capybara. The children loved getting up close and being able to see the pigs’ teeth and feed the reindeer calves. Sadly we didn’t get to see the otters as they were hiding. We particularly enjoyed being able to get close to the pigs on the pig pier and seeing the goats climbing up and over their bridge. From an educational point of view there were plenty of boards giving you information about the animals. These were clear and interesting plus the bright colours attracted the children’s attention.
Animal feed from the shop was £1 for a cone – not the most practical shape when the kids wanted to take a break from feeding the animals to go and play. The chutes to be able to feed the animals are a great idea. You can buy feed from dispensers by the pens and there were miniature tractors to deliver it to the pigs and sheep. The kids were fascinated when turning the handle and seeing the tractor reverse and tip the food into the pig’s pen. However 50p for a very small amount seems quite steep. It was not clear which animals could be fed with the feed bought from the gift shop and I was a little concerned about this.
There is a colour coded safety system so that everyone knows at a glance which animals must not be fed at all, which are ok to feed with parental supervision and which are ok to feed alone. This is a great idea which was easy for the children to understand but the traffic lights were not always visible on the pens.
It is a shame that the children aren’t allowed to touch many of the animals especially the rabbits and guinea pigs.
As a general guide the rides are great for toddlers and young children. Older children will continue to enjoy both the animals and rides as long as they aren’t thrill seekers as the rides are relatively tame. Although under 2’s are free to enter the park they are only allowed on the rides (train, tractors, pony ride and carousel) if they have a wristband; at only £3.50 I feel it is good value for money.
The café which was clean and tidy offered a range of items both hot and cold. Most of the prices were reasonable although some items were a little on the high side (e.g. 70p for a bag of milky bar buttons). Hot meals consisted of your usual burgers and chips, hot dogs or jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings or sandwiches and all of these meals cost under £5. We had taken a picnic but we still enjoyed ice creams (for the kids) and a nice cup of tea and sausage roll from the café before leaving.
There were plenty of picnic tables all around the park. Some were wooden shelters with colourful animal themed decorations, we ate in the goat shed much to the amusement of the children, others were metal with built in umbrellas unfortunately the design of these meant the rain had not drained away properly.
Although the map showed an ice cream van on the other side of the park we didn’t find it and ended up going all the way back to the gift shop to buy them.
Other than the ice cream van, which we eventually spotted near the entrance as we were leaving, the only place you can buy any refreshments is the café or gift shop by the main entrance. The park would benefit from a shop to buy hot and cold drinks as well as ice creams at the far side. In the meantime you will need to plan ahead.
With regards other facilities at the park there are a number of areas where you can shelter from the rain if necessary but there is a lack of shade in certain parts of the park so be sure to remember your sunhats and sunscreen on a hot day.
There are 2 toilet blocks, both of which are basic but they are adequate and reasonably clean and baby changing facilities are available at both. The toilets near the main entrance don’t give much room for a pushchair but those near the reindeer have plenty of space.
There are lots of hand-washing facilities around with clear signage and reminders of the importance of regular cleaning in a farm environment.
Recommendations
Is it good value for money? It was certainly a great day out for all five of us. We arrived about 11.30am and left as the park closed at 5pm. You can easily spend the whole day there (it opens at 10am) as there is so much to do and see, but the plethora of coin operated attractions will quickly reduce the value for money you are getting if you are not careful.
It is certainly advisable to buy your tickets online and take advantage of the extra discount if you can book more than 7 days in advance.
Being able to buy a family ticket which includes 2 adults and up to 3 kids is great but should you have more children you can still pay a reduced price for any extra.
Rating: 4/5
For more information or to book tickets visit www.omdfarm.co.uk
