Guardian lists 10 top City Farms in Britain

The best city farms

The Guardian
29 March 2010

You don’t need to drag your family to the countryside to let them stroke sheep, feed chickens and ride donkeys. We’ve picked the ten best urban places that give you a taste of the good life.

Excerpt:

Heeley City Farm, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Sheffield, a city that has come a long way since The Full Monty, plays host to a cracking little four-acre farm. Alongside the sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits and what have you, there are more exotic creatures including chipmunks, snakes, tarantulas and degus (think guinea pig but odder). Children under eight have their own playground, while the rather groovy cafe offers inexpensive home cooking with loads of their home grown organic veggies thrown in and an impressive line in cakes.

Bath City Farm, Whiteway, Bath, Somerset

Among the free range chickens (look out for the mighty Orpington), goats, fancy ducks, Aberdeen Angus cattle and friendly Tamworth pigs there’s a flock of Soay sheep from the remote fastnesses of the Isle of Kilda. Very unusually, you can get in whenever you like – just climb over one of the many stiles or pass through a kissing gate – making it perfect for a visit in the long early summer evenings. For home time, postcards of the animals make great keepsakes.

Gorse Hill City Farm, Leicester, Leicestershire

Founded 25 years ago to turn some overgrown allotments into a community farm, the 14-acre smallholding now specialises in rare breeds – their Castlemilk Moorits and Leicester Longwool sheep are so rare they’re actually endangered. There are guinea pigs and rabbits to coo over, along with a nature trail and play areas for children including a new toddlers’ room with toys to amuse the tinies. Picnickers are welcome, as are trainee sheep strokers.

See the complete list here.