With our daughter, son in law and three grandchildren (ages 1-5) we visited Whitehouse Farm Centre and it turned out to be a lovely day out, the children loved feeding and handling the animals, but there was also bucket loads of other activities for the children and plenty of space for them to let of steam. Retail shops for the adults and a welcoming café, much appreciated by the grown ups to sit, enjoy a coffee and take a break.
Whitehouse Farm set in 40 acres is situated just a mile from the A1 south of the market town of Morpeth.
It is open daily 10am-5pm. Admission fees -adults £9.50, children £8.50, children under 2 free. There are family tickets available plus an annual pass, the latter seems to be good value for regular visitors.
There are good car parking facilities with disabled car parking.
For the less mobile like myself I found the outdoor walking to be good, it is largely paved, although there are some grass paths which I found a little difficult and there is a gravelled area to the back of the centre.
A mobility scooter is available to hire and they have three manual wheelchairs available.
Each day there is a timetable of events, including such activities as handling the small animals, feeding the animals. It is quite a long list of activities. We timed our visit so our grandchildren could handle the small animals and get involved in feeding the animals. The timetable is shown on their website and is detailed on notices at the venue.
During the animal handling session, the children, sat on chairs in a circle, in smallish groups accompanied by parents/grandparents.with three animal handlers supervising. Only two small animals were brought out at a time and the children who wished to handle the animal (my granddaughter handled a rabbit whilst our younger grandsons just stroked the rabbit) took turns to handle the animal. It was all very relaxed and I could see the animals were not stressed in any way.
Then it was on to feeding the animals which the grandchildren loved.
There were a lot to see – birds, reptiles, large animals small animals and the children were fascinated.
Lots of other activities ensured the children were fully occupied. Our toddler twin grandsons loved the soft play area and it was difficult.to get them out of it. There is a large adventure playground. We all enjoyed the wild willow maze. Tots tractors are available as are pedal go carts.
Not long before closing we rested for a while in the spacious café, enjoying a coffee and a delicious slice of home made cake. The café serves breakfasts and lunches – until 3.30pm and the menu which included a separate children’s menu looked good and competitively priced.
All in all a very enjoyable afternoon, and we plan to return here.
Whitehouse Farm is close to the market town of Morpeth which has a lovely park, alongside the river. It has a host of restaurants, shops and a rather interesting bagpipe museum.
The coast and countryside of Northumberland with all its attractions such as many castles, The Holy Island of Lindisfarne and The Alnwick Garden are all within easy reach of Whitehouse Farm.
