Longdown Activity Farm

This is a working family farm near Ashurst that diversified from Holstein Friesian dairying into a visitor attraction, and the animal contact is the point rather than a sideline. The day runs to a scheduled programme of hands-on sessions, typically bottle-feeding calves and kid goats, duck feeding and time in the Animal Encounter Barn. Which activities run on any given day is up to the farm, and the schedule can change, so treat the posted list as the plan for that day rather than a guarantee.

Between sessions you can wander the pens and barns, where the resident animals include cows and calves, a large group of kid goats, Pygmy goats, chickens and chicks, ducks, geese, pigs, alpacas, donkeys, horses and ponies, rabbits, guinea pigs and a tortoise. Not every animal is out for handling, and contact depends on what's offered that day.

The outdoor play area is genuinely substantial, not a token climbing frame: trampolines, a zip wire, sandpit and diggers, mud kitchens, ride-on tractors, go-karts, the Little Farmers' Play Yard and Pitchfork & Putt crazy golf, which carries a small extra charge. A tractor and trailer ride also runs, subject to ground conditions.

It sits a few miles east of Lyndhurst and west of Southampton, signposted from the main routes, with free parking across Deerleap Lane. That lane has no designated footpath, so this is a place you drive to rather than walk in. Aim to arrive with plenty of the day left so you can catch several feeding sessions rather than one, and check the day's activity list as you come in so you can plan the play area around it. The visit pays off best when you stay for several hours rather than pass through.