I took my toddler to a farm experience an hour from Liverpool and made a fatal error

My toddler and I love a farm day out and we’ve tried out quite a few. However there’s one we keep going back to and it's called Smithills Open Farm.

It’s just an hour's drive from Liverpool and can be a full day out as there is so much to do there with over 1000 animals. I booked our tickets online, as advanced booking is necessary, and paid £29 for us both, which included a tractor ride at £2 each and a bag of animal feed for £1.

You have to book your tickets in advance online and pick an arrival slot, but once in there’s no time limit on how long you can stay. We headed straight for the cow shed and fed the calves before going to the pet corner for one of the petting shows, which is by far our favourite part of Smithills Open Farm.

The knowledgeable and friendly staff bring out an array of animals from owls and baby alpacas to smaller animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and chicks which anyone can hold on their knees and pet, much to my son’s delight. The activity is about half an hour, maybe longer, and we didn’t feel rushed at all so got plenty of time to stroke and hold the animals, which I haven’t found at many other farms.

The interactive activity is one of many at the farm as there are also talks giving you plenty of information and fun facts about the animals and there’s an opportunity to watch the cows being milked and be talked through the process.

Another great addition to the farm are the tractor rides that take place throughout the day. We climbed on board the tractor trailer and a very bumpy ride followed out into the farm's fields. When we got on the trailer all families were handed pieces of bread to feed the donkeys. It was at this point I realised we maybe should have had lunch before getting on the ride. What proceeded was a near on impossible task to stop my greedy toddler eating the bread we had been given.

Thankfully, other less hungry families had kept their bread intact and immediately when the tractor stopped we were surrounded by hungry donkeys who gobbled up the bread (or the crumbs that were left of it in our case) from our hands. My apologies to the donkeys who got a little less bread than they were expecting on our part.

After 'bread-gate' I decided it was definitely lunch time for my hungry toddler and to keep costs down I had brought us a packed lunch. There are lots of picnic benches all around the farm and open grass space if you wanted to bring a blanket.

Most of the picnic areas are situated closely to the farm's outdoor play areas. Now, I’m mostly against parks and play areas at attractions such as farms, zoos and similar because I sometimes feel like they just take time away from the actual activity you have paid to experience. Plus, I often take my son to a park or play centre, so the last thing I want to do, after I’ve paid to go somewhere in particular, is to spend my time at a park, even though I love hearing 'watch this mummy' as he goes down the slide for the twelfth time.

However, I do think the outdoor play area at Smithills compliments the attraction, it’s also located a decent distance from the animals so you have to make a conscious effort to go to it, rather than stumbling upon it and then having to prise your screaming child off it to go and enjoy the rest of the experience.

Like most places there are a few added extras you can pay for, such as donkey rides, food/drinks in the onsite café and souvenirs in the gift shop. We weren’t tempted by these but just before we left we enjoyed a homemade milkshake, courtesy of the free voucher we were given on entry. I thought this was a nice touch and it went down very well with my son.

There is also an ice creamery on site, again using the farm's own produce, which you can actually visit without going into the farm, as it is located in its car park. This is our third time coming to Smithills Open Farm and we will definitely be back! Smithills Open Farm, is located on Smithills Dean Road, Bolton, Greater Manchester, BL1 7NS.