As a mainly outdoor attraction, we are allowed to open from 2nd December and are still taking bookings for December and our Christmas event. We have made a few changes to the event but hope you'll be able to join us for a very special Christmas season.
If you have already made a booking, in most cases there is no change to it. The main exception is if you have booked a farm+play barn combi-ticket. These tickets are still valid for the farm and Xmas event; we will refund the play barn section of your ticket on arrival at the farm.
Rules and Guidance related to Tiers
RULE OF 6: Please do not break the law by booking for more than 6 people. If you book for a larger group, or make two consecutive bookings with the intention of gathering, you are still breaking the law. Please do not coordinate group bookings with friends or family if you intend to form one gathering. Please support us on this matter by not trying to circumvent our booking system. Note: a bubble is an official support bubble, not a group of family or friends, nor children that go to school or nursery together.
TRAVEL: We are in Tier 3 at the moment. We can not advise on specific travel rules relating to individual bookings. We ask that you follow general guidance and should you choose not to come because of a travel restriction we will honour a free reschedule if given notice according to our cancellation policy. (see note below the booking link for full details about cancelling)
THE BIG PLAY BARN: Currently closed due to being in Tier 3. We have cancelled our play barn Christmas event
MASKS and SAFETY Guidance is that masks are mandatory for over 11 year-old children and adults in our indoor areas (Creepy Critters, Hatchery, Piggery, Shop).In addition, please wear them wherever social distancing is difficult.
What's On
Everything is on, except the Tractor Trailer Ride (to compensate, we're giving every paying child a £2 voucher for the shop). For those that have been before, expect things to be a bit different with our staff facilitating the interactions with the animals on a family-by-family basis rather than in groups; that's things like the chick chat, collect and egg, pet a bunny, sit on pony. Animal feeding: Included in child entry. We can now give you buckets of food (cleaned between uses) to offer the animals.
Eating facilities: We are now only able to offer take away food.
CHRISTMAS TICKETS: PLEASE CLICK THE CHRISTMAS TAB, ABOVE RIGHT, FOR INFORMATION ABOUT OUR CHRISTMAS EVENT.
Booking for Christmas:
Book the time you'd like to start your visit. The time shown on your booking is your CHECK-IN time at which point you can enter the animal areas. Please book the time you will get to us by. You may then stay as long as you like but visitors usually stay between 1.5 hours and 2 hours on the farm (longer in Summer). If you are participating in the Christmas Event then that will be accessed on the farm about halfway through your visit.
CLICK HERE to book your ENTRY TIME
Cancellations: Bookings are generally non-refundable but we'll move your slot if you let us know 3 hours or more before your entry time and your request is due to illness or isolating. We are 90% undercover so we do not accept reschedule requests because of wet weather.
Message us on Facebook or use our contact form and we will get back to you. We do not accept telephone cancellations, it must be in writing by one of the above methods. Our preference is a free reschedule but should we need to cancel your booking, we charge a fee of 10% of the original booking cost, up to a maximum of £3, to cover bank fees. We will refund part of your ticket if for reasons of illness (or isolating) one or more of your party can't attend, however this will also incur a 10% charge to cover the transaction fee.
FAQs
I am a carer, how does it work for me?
We allow one free carer for a paying disabled child or adult in your care. Please book online as normal, leaving the carer off the booking completely. We cannot refund carers after booking.
Please be prepared to show proof of status either of the carer or the person who is dependent on you. We accept the following. If you can't provide one of these then please book and pay for your adult:
Valid Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance award letter
Valid Personal Independence payment award letter
A current valid Blue Badge
A valid letter from your GP stating the need for a carer dated within the last 6 months.
Do I pay for a baby?
We charge normal child entry from 12 months. Under 1s come in free, but if your child is near 12 months and may appear to be older to our staff, then please bring photo proof of DOB on your phone in case we ask. We are sorry to ask for that but unfortunately we do have instances where much older toddlers are declared as free-entry "babies" … a photo of DOB on a birth certificate, passport or red medical book clears that up straight away. Some parents opt to pay for their under 12 months child as they wish them to have the bucket of animal feed, pony-sit-on, hunt-for-an-egg, etc. If you wish to do this then please add them as a child to the booking.
Can I add more people to my booking after I've made it?
Once you have your entry slot, if you wish to bring more family or bubble friends on the day, then they can tag along and pay on the door. Just tell us on arrival and pay the balance. You can't add people online after making the booking, so just bring them on the day.
I have a voucher. Can I use it?
If you have at least one paying person (with no voucher), book as normal but leave off those with vouchers. Bring the voucher on the day to hand over for the non-paid-for entries. Only contact us if you have vouchers for all of your group so therefore have nothing to pay; WE STILL NEED TO BOOK YOU THOUGH. Please check your vouchers are valid at any time. Some have restrictions printed on them.
Opening Times
We are open every day apart from a few days after Christmas when closure dates will be posted here.
The farm and play barn are separate attractions and have different opening times and admission fees, although a combined ticket can be bought reducing the total cost should you wish to visit both.
Children's Farm
9.00am - 5.00pm at the weekend, 3pm during the week. Last entry 2 hours before closing.
There are organised activities that happen through the day for your child - egg collecting, chick chat, sit on a pony. These activities are all included in your admission and are available weather and season permitting. See the Things To Do page for more information and activity times. Tractor ride currently unavailable. No bottle feeding until next Spring.
Big Play Barn - Now Open Again
If you are choosing a combi-ticket, it is usual to visit the play barn approximately 1.5 hours to 2 hours after your farm visit. Combi tickets are available from the farm calendar ... they are scattered through the timetable and are priced differently.
Admission Prices
Children's Farm
Children: £9.95
Adults: £9.45
PLEASE NOTE: in the short term, as lockdown is eased, we are still unable to run tractor rides. In recognition of this, children will receive a 2 pound souvenir voucher to spend in our gift shop. Please check our home page for details of what's on. After 4th July, most is on and our customers have been raving on Facebook about how great their visit has been.
Children's admission includes ALL extra activities (chicken chat, bucket of animal feed, find an egg, bottle feed when available, etc.) For this reason, admission is required for all children who will get a card to access the activities. If you have a young baby (under 12 months) then they can enter the farm free of charge but do not participate in the organised activities unless you choose to pay their admission.
See the Things to Do page for full information about activities included in your admission.
Big Play Barn
Midweek: Simply upgrade on the day £5 per child.
Weekends: RARELY AVAILABLE ON THE DAY
Options, listed:
A) Grab a value ONLINE combi-ticket: choose a ticket time from the farm booking calendar that is labelled COMBI farm + play barn. This adds £5 to the child price (or £3 for the last few bookings of the day).
B) If there are no online combi-tickets left and you wish to guarantee play barn entry: book a JUST FARM ticket and then book a separate ticket on the play barn website, subject to availability, at a suitable time (we recommend 1.5 hours to 2 hours after your farm start time).
C) Take a chance on an on-the-day upgrade: this is cheaper than option B but tickets are extremely limited. Please ask when you enter the farm (£5 per child).
Special Events
Despite the news about the region's restrictions we are still able to go ahead with our Christmas Event with a few alterations to ensure we offer this safely within the rules.
On our farm booking calendar you will find tickets that include Farm entry AND the Christmas event. While on your farm walk-around, you'll encounter Santa and be able to visit our Nativity with real animals. There's a tree treat for all children and an an optional present (present ticket purchasable on the day, £3).
All our current farm activities are included. The Farm + Christmas ticket is £12.95 per child (not including the present ticket). It is not possible to attend the Christmas event separately.
TIMES:
At the weekend and in the school holidays (from the 18th December): farm tickets that include Christmas are available at entry times after 9.30am (before that it's JUST FARM). You book an ENTRY time and then may stay as long as you like (typically 2 hours). On weekdays before the 18th we have now opened up xmas slots at mid-day, from the 7th December, so farm entries from 11-12 offer our Christmas event with a chat with Santa.
How to BOOK: these tickets are available on our standard farm booking calendar
OR
The Play Barn Christmas Breakfast: CANCELLED! We hope to still run this from Friday 18th but this is dependent on how long the tier restrictions stay in place for this region. We have left booking open but please await further announcements on the play barn website.
This year the play barn's Santa Experience is being run as a Christmas Breakfast. All tickets for the first session of the day are exclusively for the Christmas Breakfast. The cost is inclusive of the time to play; a big breakfast and the Santa event. Total time is 2 hours. Tickets are limited to ensure the atmosphere in the play barn is relaxed with plenty of space to play and eat safely. Visits through the Santa area will be organised family by family ensuring social distancing and one-on-one time with Santa, himself.
The cost is £22 per child and £12 per adult
TIMES:
From 8.45am there are three staggered early entries. This is available on weekend days and in the final weekday run up to and including Christmas Eve. The event finishes each day at approximately 11am when the play barn will be closed for cleaning before general entry for play barn visitors through the rest of the day. During that time there is time to eat, time to play and time to visit the Christmas area.
How to BOOK: these tickets are available on a special booking calendar
Find Us
Ash End House Children's Farm, Middleton Lane, Middleton, Nr. Tamworth, Staffs.
Postcode B78 2BL for your satnav.
We are just south of the village of Middleton although we don't recommend you travel through the village itself. The easiest access is from the A4091 which is the main road that runs from The Belfry, past Drayton Manor Park, to Tamworth. Please don't approach us from the A446.
From the A4091, look out for signs directing you along Park Lane which runs into Middleton Lane. The farm is about one mile from the main road.
Coaches must approach via the A4091 and are by appointment only. All coaches must stay on the property for the duration of the visit.
Latest News
We recommend you follow us on Facebook for the latest news 'from the horse's mouth'. Our staff post pictures regularly and there are win-a-ticket competitions too.
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