Days Out: Wythenshawe Community Farm

Last Updated on March 24, 2016 by HodgePodgeDays

Last weekend we headed to our local community farm, it’s small but is home to cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, a little Shetland pony, a gaggle of ducks and a peacock. We’d heard that a calf had been born that morning so we were keen to go along and meet the new arrival.

Wythenshawe Community Farm is a lovely little farm which we visit on a regular basis. It’s especially charming in spring when they have newborn lambs and calves to ahh over. We were not disappointed, there were several calves including one which was just 3 hours old and still wobbly on his legs, as well as tiny triplet newborn lambs and some slightly older lambs frolicking in a paddock tucked away in the walled garden.

Our first stop was to see the newborn calf, both baby and mum were in a pen of their own. Mum was nuzzling and looking after her baby and it was a lovely sight. The calf was very wobbly on its legs but it had a drink of milk and then curled up for a rest.

Tucked away in a nearby shed was a Jacob cross sheep and her day old triplets. You can’t see the lambs too well, but I didn’t want to intrude on her, but they were incredibly sweet.

We heard (and could hear) that there were more lambs in a paddock in the walled garden, so we wandered over to have a look. In the walled garden there was a pony, some goats, some older sheep and a paddock full of ewes and their lambs. Its also a good space for little ones to run around (under supervision) and there were teams of volunteers digging out the vegetable beds ready for some spring planting.

There were a lot of twin lambs and they were all cheeky and a joy to watch as they jumped and played, baa-ing their heads off.

The small boy LOVED the cheeky lambs and we couldn’t tear him away. I suspect we have another sheep enthusiast in the family!

Although Wythenshawe Community Farm is small, we spent a couple of hours there exploring, talking about the animals, falling in love with the lambs and having a lovely spring afternoon together.

Whilst the boys went to have another look at the cows I visited the on-site farm shop. It’s small but excellent value. I picked up  large jar of local honey, 6 duck eggs, two blocks of Greenfields Lancashire cheese and 12 primulas (they sell plants, they’re always really good quality). I bought all of that for a few pence shy of £15 and I know that any profit will be ploughed back into this great community resource.

Next to Wythenshawe Community Farm is a huge playground to explore, and on the other side of that is a community cafe and Wythenshawe Hall, which had a fire last week so is not at present open to the public.

If you’re in South Manchester I can thoroughly recommend a visit to Wythenshawe Community Farm to meet the animals, we’ll be going again soon to check on the progress of the triplets and see how the baby calf is doing. It’s free to visit, there is parking nearby and they always have such a lot going on for local families to enjoy. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for more information and updates.