Old MacDonald’s Farm Essex Review
Old MacDonald’s Farm
Brentwood, Essex
Reviewed by Claire Turner
I was quite excited to be going to Old MacDonald’s Farm in Brentwood with my son who is 2½ years old. I have driven past it hundreds of times when on the M25. It was fairly easy to find following the brown road signs and going in March I found the car park relatively empty – there were plenty of spaces in a nice big car park.
We found the entrance and showed the email I had and was given 1 wristband for me (nothing for my son), I asked about the talk mentioned in my email but the lady just pointed through to the entrance. We walked through the gift shop into where a big soft play area and cafe was and then out some doors into the farm park.
We walked round the rabbits first – my son couldn’t believe the size of them! We have a rabbit who seems tiny in comparison. We had a map and found our way to the alpacas, goats and owls. The meerkats were funny and kept chasing us round the pen they were in. We found the rides but only a few were open* – it seemed to be one lady operating the 4 open rides so you could only go on the ride she was standing at. My son loved the piggy train and we asked if he could stay on and have a second go but she just shrugged her shoulders and pointed to the exit – she didn’t speak to us once on any of the rides! We also went on the carousel and the tractor ride. We then decided to have lunch so made our way back to the cafe. There wasn’t anything on the menu my son could have (he has allergies and there wasn’t any allergy information anywhere – I did ask but the ladies serving didn’t seem to know!), luckily I had food with me for him so we sat by the play area and my son had his packed lunch and I had a coffee.
We ventured back outside and went to find more animals – we found a massive talking tree!! It scared my son when it was talking so we didn’t hang around. There were some statues of cows – we liked the Spider-Man one best. There were some really old tractors that could be climbed on and you could pretend to drive – these went down well with my tractor mad son! We then found the real reindeer!! How exciting – only one was by the fence but he was so lovely to look at. We looked at the map and saw that we hadn’t yet found the pig bridge and the Shetland ponies. We hunted for these after a quick play in the play area. There were 2 spotted pigs under the pig bridge (my son loved seeing the lorries on the M25 from this point). We also spotted 2 massive cows on our way to see the ponies. There is so much to see and do but it is more play on diggers/tractors/play equipment and rides than farm as although there are lots of animals to see there are only a few you can get close enough too, the rest are too far away from where you stand. There is lots of clear information by each animal enclosure explaining what the animals are – you just can’t see them all. It was clear that it had only just opened after the winter as lots were shut and there was a workman building a pond in an enclosure and another fixing the gates by the tractor ride – he was using an electric sander which was plugged in far away from his van so we had to squeeze past him whilst he was standing and then climb over the electric wire to get out of the walkway after the ride. We had a quick play inside in the play area before walking back through the shop and then back to our car.
I think it is very expensive to get into and it is the same price for a 2 year old as a 15 year old which seems a bit steep – I understand all the rides are included but all the rides weren’t open our visit! I would rather pay less for younger children and then buy a wristband for the rides. It is then only £1 more for an adult to get in.
I don’t think I will be returning any time soon as it would work out very expensive to take the rest of my family (2 adults, 1 18 year old, 1 15 year old and my 2½ year old), plus if only one person is operating all the rides I can imagine it will get very chaotic and busy (it was bad enough when I went).
Rating: 3/5
Opening times: 10am to 5pm.
Tickets cost: £13.50 (child 2-15 years, children under 2 are free), £14.50 (adult), £3.50 (ride wristband for children under 2). Book online to save money of entry tickets.
For more information or to book tickets visit www.omdfarm.co.uk.
*In low season times rides operate on a rotational basis and therefore staff may not always be operating them. If you wish to go onto the rides, please either contact a member of staff in the Shop or Café or if the ride has a button please press it to call for assistance.
Old MacDonald’s Farm, Weald Road, Brentwood, Essex, CM14 5AY | 01277 375 177
