My daughter often asks me questions like ‘Where do we get beans from?’ Or, ‘What trees do strawberries grow on?’ They’re all easily explainable with a nice little non upsetting answer and she loves to learn. That might have been about it for her farming knowledge though? She definitely didn’t think the chicken she eats is also the chicken that she likes to visit at farms and I wasn’t entirely sure if I should, or how I could, explain it to her?

She knows that Mummy produces milk for her and her baby brother and is totally fascinated that animals drink ‘milk, milk’ from their mummies too. She understands that we drink milk from cows as well but I’m not sure if she fully understood how the process works and I wondered how exactly she thought that came about? We buy the cows milk in the supermarket but did she think about how it got there? She’s not asked so I’m assuming she either hadn’t thought about it, not likely knowing her, or has a little version she’d decided upon for herself – which often is spot on! When we were asked if we’d like to visit Lee Valley Park Farms in Waltham Abbey, who are a fun farm with lots to do as well as having a working dairy herd, it seemed the perfect way to explain!

The farm, I had no idea that it existed, is about a half hours drive from my house in East London. It’s a world away from the City farms we usually visit and is in the rolling Essex countryside, seriously, it’s rolling! I swear it’s more rural here than it is in Norfolk where I’m from! I had no idea what to expect and my only knowledge was that it is a working farm who supply milk to Asda. Now I like Asda, compared to lots of supermarkets I think they have fairly good ethics and I especially like the fact that the milk I buy, as well as lots of other things, including our picnic for the day, comes from produce which is bought in from British farmers! We had yummy bacon sandwiches which I used British bacon to make. Asda’s Extra Special range is always delicious and I love the fact that the Dry Cure Smoky Bacon Rashers are home grown. We’d bought lots of picnic bits from the Extra Special range but we were unlucky with the weather so when we arrived, we ate our sandwiches quickly and saved the rest for a carpet picnic tea! We needed to get on the move to keep warm! It was such a shame as there are loads of picnic tables and places to sit and eat while the children can run and play on lots of lovely equipment when they’re finished – not that we didn’t take advantage of the equipment of course!

We decided to follow the paths round and just see what we came across. I had a timetable of events that were going on throughout the day and we marked that we’d like to meet the husky dogs and watch the pig race. For the rest we thought we’d meander at our own pace!

Then we wanted to meet some animals, so off we went to find some…

After the husky dog talk where we got to stroke them (they were so friendly), we followed the path round and found an area which explained chickens and dinosaurs have a connection! Archaeologists have found bones which show us chickens had a dinosaur ancestor and there was a fab little area for little archaeologists to uncover some bones for themselves!

We then continued on the pathway we were following and got to visit some more farm animals! We even found some baby animals feeding or about to feed from their Mummies which Florence loved to see!

Big animals, and small, entranced the children and it was really great that they could get inside the pens with the smaller animals like the rabbits, it really made it special!

And then we found even more areas to play! At the top of the farm is a super fun inflated giant pillow which the children can jump on! Both Florence and Jimmy thought this was fabulous!

There are tractors to drive to the left of the bouncy pillow and you can pick up a trailor and collect logs to drive around or, if you’re like Florence you can collect your baby brother and take him for a spin!

On the other side of the bouncy pillow is something even more exciting still! Father Christmas’s real reindeers live here and this is apparently where he keeps his sleigh! The sleigh is right next to his launch hill and for the rest of the year when he doesn’t need to launch his sleigh the children can slide down it in giant rings!

I had a bit of a job persuading Florence to leave this play area to come and watch the pig racing but eventually I managed it and we watched open mouthed as the pigs hurtled towards the finishing line! We had backed number three who unlucky for us didn’t win this time but it was still loads of fun and it prompted me telling Florence that our bacon was made out of pigs. She wasn’t very impressed so I told her that when they get very old they go to the stars with Great Grandma and our cat Zippy and then we have their bacon. She wasn’t mightily impressed but she must have grasped it a little and not been too disturbed as she relayed the information happily to my Mum on the phone this morning!

Next on our agenda was to visit the dairy herd up the road and for this we needed to leave the farm and get on the tractor for a little ride up there. Before we left I promised Florence could have another play and we found yet another play area, this time indoors! Very welcome considering the wind chill of yesterday and I sat in the heated barn which has great soft play areas for both under 3’s and over! Florence happily switched between the two, being on the cusp of the age for both and Jimmy delighted in being thrown down the baby slide by his big sister!

And then it was time for the tractor! We made our way out to the car park and hitched a ride up to Holyfield Farm!

We’ve never been to a proper working farm before and I think Florence’s eyes were out on stalks, it was very exciting! Yesterday was a special event, Open Farm Sunday, so we were lucky enough to get to meet the farmer and the vet to ask them questions. We also got to try some of the milk but the best bit, and the bit we only just made it in time for and must go back to see properly, was seeing the cows being milked in the first place!

Florence was entranced and it was such a shame I’d left this activity till so late in the day, we just saw them finishing up but it was enough to set the ball in motion in her mind I think! She knows I use a pump and could see this was exactly the same! Then we went to do some more playing as there’s fun things to do for the children at this part of the farm too! You can try your hand at hand milking a pretend cow and play on yet more equipment!

And then it was time to catch the tractor back to the car park and go home but not before a taster of Asda’s Princess milk containing none other than some of Holyfield Farm cow’s milk!

I can’t believe how time flew, we loved our day at the farm and not only did we learn things but we found a great new place to visit! We’re definitely going to go back! I think for my birthday, if it’s sunny, we’ll go with my Mum! There was so much to do and at a really affordable price, especially if you can go during the week in term time like us! We missed the BBQ and sandpit amongst other things and can’t wait to visit some of things we loved like the play areas again so we have to do another visit!

For more information on Lee Valley Farms and all they have to offer please visit www.visitleevalley.org.uk/farms.

I have not been paid to write this post but I was provided a day out at the farm for the purpose of review.