Longdown Activity Farm is a farm and activity center based near Ashurst, on the edge of the New Forest. It has a great selection of animals, from things as large as horses and cows, down to the smaller animals like baby chicks, and even guinea pigs.
In addition, there are great activities for the children, big and small!
Let’s explore in a bit more detail.
Information
Address: Deerleap Lane, Ashurst, Southampton SO40 7EH
Hours: 10am to 5pm
Costs: Children (3-14) £9.25. Adults £10.25. Concessions and Family Tickets are available
Allow: 4+ hours for your visit
Information correct as 2021
Here is a quick video I made in 2021
Arrival
Parking is in a car park across the street, so be sure to take care when crossing the road. There is a farm shop which you can access without having to pay the admission price, more on that later.
Once you are inside
Longdown Activity Farm not only has a lot of animals to view, but they also have opportunities to get up close and personal to the animals.
At our time of visiting, they were not allowed to hand out flyers about the activities, due to COVID, so I recommend taking a quick photo of the activity times.
If you forget, there are a number of these boards dotted around the Farm.
It is worth making a note of the ones you want to do, so you don’t miss them, as each one only happens once or twice a day.
We chose to check out the Animal Encounter, Duck Feeding and Bottle Feeding the Baby Goats. More on that coming up.
The Animals at Longdown activity farm
It doesn’t take too long to walk around the farm, and here is a selection of the animals we saw.
Guinea Pigs
Super cute, and great fun to see them scurrying around. There must have been a least 100 in two huge pens, and quite a few were babies, so really fun to check these little furballs out!
Actual Pigs
We viewed the pigs in their pens, inside and out. They were quite content lazing around, and the younger ones were having a bit of rough and tumble.
Cows
The cows we saw were out in the same field as the tractor ride and were causing a bit of a nuisance, blocking the tractor and having to be moved on a couple of times.
Goats
The goats were enjoying themselves, climbing on the benches, and trying to eat most things. While we were there, we were lucky enough to see a lot of babies, for lots of different animals, including the goats.
Alpacas
They also had a few Alpacas in one of the barns. Interesting to see a bit of a different farm animal than the usual cows etc
Other animals
There was also poultry to look at, rabbits, and of course horses and ponies.
I think our favourites were definitely the guinea pigs though, as we are thinking of getting a couple for Max as a family pet.
Longdown Activity Farm – The Activities
Animal Encounter Barn
You enter the barn and are asked to sit in certain places. Usually, they let you actually hold the animals, but on this occasion, they wanted them to be kept in the basked, on your knee.
That was fine, and it meant we could still get up close and pet them gently
While we were there we saw baby chics and the guinea pigs.
Longdown Activity Farm, as the name suggests, isn’t just about animals. There are plenty of hands-on things to do, such as:
Outdoor play area
Lots of things to keep the children entertained, including trampolines. I am not sure if this is by design, but it is handy having the outdoor play area near the queue for the tractor rides, as it means the children can have fun while you are queuing.
Tractor Rides
The tractor Ride was great fun, as we bounce across the fields. They were restricting the numbers on the trailer at the time of our visit, but it was worth the wait. Be warned though, they did have to close it when the rain persisted, as it became too slippy for the trailer
Pitchfork and Put crazy golf
There was also a 9 hole crazy golf course. This does have an additional price of £1, but it was worth it, and Max enjoyed himself
Mini Diggers
For the Bob The Builder in us, they have mini diggers where you can pay £1, and have a few minutes scooping and moving sand, and trying to learn the controls. Max loves this, and always wants a go when we are there
Go Carts
Finally, there are also pedal Go-Karts, so another thing to keep the young ones entertained
The Farm Shop at Longdown activity farm
They also had the farm shop, which is actually situated outside the entrance to the farm itself. This is a good idea, as it means they get trade from non Farm going customers, which makes perfect sense.
It has a great selection of meats, fruits, and vegetables. It also has plenty of choice for your pets, if you need the right feed, or bedding, etc. Generally, anything you need to look after yourselves and your pets!!
Summary
We have been to Longdon Activity Farm a few times, and it never really gets old.
With all the animals to see, plus the fun things for all the family, it is really easy to spend a few hours there.
Which was your favourite animal? Let me know in the comments below.