Swine fever information

A number of regular visitors to the farm have called us worrying about the risks of Swine flu. Our poor woolly pigs - Winston and Clementine (due to farrow any day now!) have been most offended! Swine flu contagion is not in fact now in anyway related to pigs.

Speaking to the Newspaper Society at the Palace of Westminster, Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn said: “The UK and some other members of the European Union undertake routine surveillance to help detect the presence of animal diseases not normally present in the EU and to identify any change in the prevalence of diseases that do occur. Results of our surveillance suggest that this variant of H1N1 does not appear to be present in pigs in the UK or anywhere else in the EU. However we are taking this developing situation very seriously and will maintain our surveillance effort, keeping the public and industry informed of any developments."

For more information on the disease currently hitting the headline you can visit the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website www.defra.gov.uk

Do come along and visit the new piglets arriving soon!

Action-packed April

April is an action-packed month down on the farm with lambing underway and a succession of special events scheduled to keep our visitors busy. Watching the new lambs take their first steps and helping out with the bottle feeding is always a favourite activity at this time of year but there is also lots going on beyond the lambing pens to entertain the kids throughout the Easter holidays. Next up is Charlie the clown on April 7 who will be falling and fooling around all day, followed by Bosco's circus workshops on April 9. There will be Easter craft activities on Friday April 10 and 17 and Huxley's birds of prey demonstrations on April 15. Poz's magic and Punch and Judy shows take to the floor on April 16 and 17. So do keep an eye on our events calendar and do come and visit us soon and join in all the fun.

Stars of the show!

Josh and Herman were the stars of the show last weekend at the fab Family Fun weekend held at Shoots Garden Centre just outside Worthing. There was all sorts of spring time fun, activities and events going on at the garden centre but our pony and donkey had plenty of attention as they made their guest apppearance! There's lots to do in the garden and down on the farm at this time of year and we'll be back at Shoots on April 7-8 and 14-15 for further special events - this time we'll be taking some of our new born lambs as lambing will be well underway by then. We expect the first lambs to arrive early in April so do make a date to pop along to the farm soon and be a part of it all!

New Arrival!

The daffodils are out and the days are getting longer and guess what - our first new arrival of the season has made its appearance! No lambs as yet, but our first little kid goat has arrived and is already the star of the show with visitors. All the animals (and the humans!) are enjoying the warmer weather and getting ready for more fun and frolics through spring. Two of them are set for an early outing too this week - off to Shoots Garden Centre just outside Worthing as part of a Family Fun Weekend being run there - so if you're in that area pop in and see Josh our pony and Herman the donkey - visiting Shoots on March 21 and 22. And do come by the farm and meet our new arrival soon!

Sun's out... snow's gone

Spring must surely be on its way. The snow has gone and the sun is out and there is lots of activity going on in our barns today as we prepare to bring the sheep in for lambing at the beginning of April. Make a date for your diary - there is nothing sweeter than to see the 'big squeeze' and we're expecting around 200 lambs - they'll start arriving from the end of March or beginning of April. See you there!

Jumping pillows arrive at Holmbush

Exciting news! Our new jumping pillows are now fully installed and ready for action. The farm staff have already been out there test driving them and now you can do - so come visit the farm soon and bounce your way into spring!