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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 splendid family attraction situated in a shady picture-postcard valley at Lamb Pens Farm, not far from Edinstowe, near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. Open from March to October (dates are detailed at the Sherwood Forest Farm Park website), ticket holders can enjoy a variegated and captivating family day out, with a raft of activities and sights, from unsual animal breeds to a water garden and a miniature railway.
Based in some 27 acres of magnificent countryside, Sherwood Forest Farm Park is in the centre of the ancient Sherwood Forest and close by Edinstowe, which possesses the biggest oak tree in England, allegedly over 1000 years old, and the resting place of Edwin of Northumbria, a saintly monarch who died at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, near Doncaster, circa 633 AD. The meadows and forests of Sherwood Forest Farm Park are replete with tangible folk memories of the ancient woods in which the family attraction nestles, its 40 species of domestic and overseas animals numbering among them rare breeds that latterly populated these shores but which have mostly disappeared, not least a group of Iron Age pigs.
Sherwood Forest Farm Park has the seal of approval of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust for its role in preserving and breeding protected farmyard animals, with litters of squealing piglets, floppy lambs, bleating goat kids and cute baby rabbits delivered on a regular basis. Ticket holders to the family attraction can get up close and personal with the latest arrivals and, when they’re in season, visit freshly arrived chicks in the Sherwood Forest Farm Park hatchery.
Among the main draws of an educational and interesting family day out at Sherwood Forest Farm Park are endangered and unusual breeds of domestic farm animals and others from outside these shores, including Longhorn and Red Poll cattle, White-faced Woodland and Hebridean sheep, Bagot and Golden Guernsey goats, and Berkshire and Middle White pigs.
More unusual residents of Sherwood Forest Farm Park include the impressive water buffalo, tiny kune kune pigs that will cheer ticket holders up with their antics on a family day out, mara, and two types of wallabies. Additionally, bird spotters visiting the family attraction can keep an eye out for a variety of species, from exotic birds and wildfowl to ornamental ducks, the inhabitants of a parrot garden, and numerous poultry displays in a state of the art bird enclosure and Bird Garden. Worth the cost of a ticket itself for twitchers!
Further, visitors can greet at close quarters ‘Little John’ the Shire Horse and ‘Dizzy Lizzie’, the Suffolk Punch, in addition to befriending a collection of goats and pigs in Pets Corner. Besides all that, there’s the furry friends area where young ticket holders can get to grips with a host of small animals. Just the ticket!
AS well as the farm facilities at Sherwood Forest Farm Park, the family attraction includes a maze and a large area of landscaped water gardens, boasting a plethora of fish and other waterborne species (while Sherwood Forest Farm Park Fishery is close by the family attraction, with its five lakes and rivers stocked with all manner of fish – detailed at the Sherwood Forest Farm Park website).
Additionally, there are gripping indoor and outdoor play areas for the children, including a special toddler enclosure, an aerial slide, an Adventure Playground, ball pools, and a bouncy castle, which all adds up to a fun family day out while parents can seek respite in the tea room. There’s a fine Gift Shop, parking, Picnic Areas and even Camping and Caravanning amenities, and with disabled access through most of the site, Sherwood Forest Farm Park provides a grand family day out that everyone can enjoy.
Sherwood Forest Farm Park holds special Birthday parties and groups are catered for (detailed at the Sherwood Forest Farm Park website), and for a small extra fee, ticket holders can take a ride on the only 15" gauge railway in Nottinghamshire. A ride down memory lane traverses a mini rural branch line that winds its way gently through enthralling scenery and the Sherwood Forest Farm Park collection. The journey takes in a 30 metre tunnel and goes beneath a unique tree house that overhangs the line, while volunteers can learn how to become a steam locomotive driver under expert tutelage.
Traversing cuttings, tunnels and level crossings, the one-mile track allows visitors to Sherwood Forest Farm Park to acquire a novel perspective on the family attraction, the 5/8th scale railway going by numerous rare breeds and other farmyard animals, who are unperturbed by the steam locos (of which there are five) and the coaches (all four of them) and the wagons that shunt by regularly throughout the year. The history of the railway’s construction – now 10 years old – began with the acquisition of two engines from Cheltenham, followed by the laying of the railway through Sherwood Forest Farm Park in 1999. This involved stripping points and sleepers behind the farm, then in 2000 the placement of a storage container at the family attraction, to act as an engine shed.
Extensions went on in 2001 (taking in a cutting), with the objective of extending the network to the water buffalos at the far end of Sherwood Forest Farm Park. A second station opened in 2006, and the railway is now 800 yards long with two crossings, a tunnel and two stations - Loxley and Welldale. The route follows the flood dykes irrigation system created between 1819 and 1838 by the Duke of Portland at a cost of £40,000 over 7.5 miles, in order to make a water meadow out of hitherto sandy lands. It is now a major feature of the family attraction and is but one reason why ticket holders will have a wonderful family day out at Sherwood Forest Farm Park.