Sherwood Forest Farm Park
Sherwood Forest Farm Park
Lamb Pens Farm, Edwinstowe, Nr Mansfield
Nottinghamshire, NG21 9HL
Tel: 01623 823 558
About Sherwood Forest Farm Park
Sherwood Forest Farm Park is a charming family attraction found in a bewitching valley near Lamb Pens Farm, Edinstowe, not far from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. Open from March to October (with the dates detailed at the Sherwood Forest Farm Park website), ticket holders to the family attraction revel in a multifaceted and breathtaking family day out, with all manner of interesting activities and features on site, from novel animal breeds to the water gardens and a miniature narrow gauge railway.
Located in around 27 acres of impressive countryside, Sherwood Forest Farm Park nestles in the ancient Sherwood Forest and is close to Edinstowe, which has the grandest oak tree in England, purportedly over 1000 years old, and the final resting place of King Edwin of Northumbria, a saintly ruler who expired at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, near Doncaster, about 633 AD. The rolling fields and woodland of Sherwood Forest Farm Park are awash with tangible folk memories of the age-old forest in which the family attraction rests, its 40 species of British and overseas animals including rare breeds that once were common but which have in the main disappeared, including a group of Iron Age pigs.
Sherwood Forest Farm Park has been approved by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust for its cutting edge methods of preserving and breeding protected species of farm animals, with litters of oinking piglets, bleating lambs and goat kids, and floppy baby rabbits arriving at regular intervals. Ticket holders to the family attraction can personally greet the latest arrivals and, when they’re due, visit the freshly hatched chicks in the Sherwood Forest Farm Park hatchery.
Among the key attractions on an educational and intriguing family day out to Sherwood Forest Farm Park are endangered and rare breeds of British farm animals and others from abroad, including Longhorn and Red Poll cattle, White-faced Woodland and Hebridean sheep, Bagot and Golden Guernsey goats, and Berkshire and Middle White pigs.
Some of Sherwood Forest Farm Park’s less common varieties are the immense water buffalo, petite kune kune pigs that have ticket holders in tucks with their antics on a family day out, mara, and two kinds of wallaby. Furthermore, bird lovers visiting the family attraction will be in seventh heaven with a host of species to view, from exotic birds and wildfowl to ornamental ducks, the parrot garden’s residents, and various poultry displays in a new bird enclosure and Bird Garden. Worth the ticket itself for twitchers!
In addition, ticket holders can get face to face with ‘Little John’ the Shire Horse and ‘Dizzy Lizzie’, the Suffolk Punch, as well as mingling with groups of goats and pigs at Pets Corner. What’s more, the furry friends area allows young ticket holders to tackle all manner of pocket-sized animals. Just the ticket!
Besides the farm aspects of Sherwood Forest Farm Park, the family attraction boasts a maze and a rolling area of landscaped water gardens, featuring hoards of fish and other waterborne species (and Sherwood Forest Farm Park Fishery is near to the family attraction, with five lakes and rivers stocked with tons of fish – see details at the Sherwood Forest Farm Park website).
Furthermore, there are thrilling indoor and outdoor play areas for children, including a designer toddler enclosure, an aerial slide, an Adventure Playground, ball pools, and a bouncy castle, making for a fun family day out while parents can take it easy in the tea rooms. There’s a well-stocked Gift Shop, ample parking, lovely Picnic Areas and even Camping and Caravanning pitches, and with disabled access across most of the site, Sherwood Forest Farm Park is a top family day out that everyone can enjoy.
Sherwood Forest Farm Park has special Birthday parties and caters for groups (details at the Sherwood Forest Farm Park website), and for a nominal fee, ticket holders can jump aboard the only 15" gauge railway in the county. A journey back in time takes in a rural branch line in miniature as it wanders gently through stunning scenery and the Sherwood Forest Farm Park collection. The trip includes a 30 metre tunnel and skirts a unique tree house that hangs out over the line, while volunteers can learn how to be a steam loco driver under expert tutors.
With cuttings, tunnels and level crossings, the one-mile circuit allows visitors to Sherwood Forest Farm Park to get an unusual view of the family attraction, the 5/8th scale railway skipping by the many rare breeds and other animals, all unconcerned by the steam engines (all five of them) and their half dozen coaches and the wagons, which zip by at regular intervals throughout the year. The history of the railway’s establishment – now 10 years ago – began with the delivery of two locos from Cheltenham, followed by track-laying through Sherwood Forest Farm Park in 1999. This included stripping points and sleepers behind the farm, then the installation in 2000 of a storage container at the family attraction, providing an engine shed. Extensions continued into 2001 (taking in the cutting), with the goal of extending the railway to the water buffalos at the furthest point of Sherwood Forest Farm Park. Another station was added in 2006, and the network is now 800 yards long with two crossings, a tunnel and two stations - Loxley and Welldale. The route follows the flood dykes irrigation system built between 1819 and 1838 by the Duke of Portland for £40,000 over 7.5 miles, so as to fashion a water meadow from previously sandy land. It is a central feature of the family attraction and just one of the many reasons that ticket holders will have a grand family day out at Sherwood Forest Farm Park.