Stonehurst Family Farm, Leicestershire

We visited Stonehurst Family Farm a couple of months ago as part of a 'Stay, Play, Explore Leicestershire' deal (where you get entry into your choice of three of list of attractions, and a hotel stay, for a set price), and I'll admit that I'd previously been leaning ever so slightly on the kids to pick one of the more expensive attractions to make the most of the deal (I'm all about the value for money!)

But they were determined this was the place, and it didn't take long for me to be won over once we'd arrived. The whole entrance to the place was utterly charming.

The lovely old gentleman in the shop what took the tickets and introduced us to the farm was a real gem too.

I've never come across such a warm welcome to a family attraction - the kind that will put you in a good mood all day, and the good vibes continued around the farm.

A couple of bags of animal feed were included in the entrance, and the kids loved the excuse to let the animals slobber and snuffle all over them.

(ok, so did I)

In addition to the general feeding, there were timed opportunities for further animal encounters, like bottle-feeding the baby lambs and calves, and handling the little ducklings.

Though they didn't seem to be any discernibly systematic approach to how these were handled, everyone who wanted a go seemed to get a go!

The only thing that wasn't included in the entrance fee were the short pony rides, but at 50p (if I remember rightly) they weren't too much of an indulgence and little miss loved her first experience on a horse - even if she looked a little nervous at first!

One very popular area with my two was the 'cuddle corner', where you got so snuggle up with the cute fluffy little guinea pigs and bunny rabbits. I think we ended up back in there about 7 or 8 times, or until the kiddos had the chance to hold every individual little furry thing.

(This was all carefully supervised by farm staff who did most of the animal handling, and knew when the critters needed a rest etc, so not the grabby chaos you might be envisioning!)

As well as all the lovely animals to see there was a free tractor ride, and a small play area including hay bales to climb on, in, and under - but you'll just have to take my work for it as by that point in the day that batteries in both cameras we had with us had died - poor planning on our part!

I'm glad I managed to get a (admittedly pretty poor) picture of the teeny piglets before the camera gave up totally though. These little sweeties were only a couple of days old when we visited and were so precious and funny!

Now, the kids love animals, and play areas and all over farm-y things but I make no secret of the real reason I love to visit places like this - it is, inevitably, the cute farmhouse tearoom. We'd tried to pop into 'The Farmer's Den' around lunch time and found it a bit too busy, but putting it off 'til later in the afternoon actually worked out really well as we got to call in when it was much quieter and escape an unexpected rain shower at the same time!

The cakes are all home made and (guessing by how quickly they disappeared) delicious, and my tea/scone combo didn't disappoint!

We all had a lovely day at Stonehurst Farm, so looks like my kids can be trusted to make a decision afterall! (Though, should point out that to balance out all the good points, I was bitten by a donkey. Go have fun at the farm but do pay attention to where you are putting your arms! I don't imagine that's a common issue though, I'm just unlucky and useless - please feel free to laugh at my misfortune!)