Old MacDonald has a farm, and so does Cornwall too!
In fact, the Cornish have plenty of farms you can visit, in all shapes, sizes, and types.
The south west is a treasure trove of pastoral beauty, fertile land, and rich history. It’s no wonder the English were so desperate to claim the picturesque fields and stunning coastlines as their own!
Maybe you’re an English tourist, or maybe you’re Cornish born and bred. Either way, it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to planning your farm visit.
I’ll make it simple for you, with a look at all the top Cornwall farms you can visit:
- Dairyland Farm Park
- Healeys Cornish Cyder Farm
- Roskilly’s Farm
- Springfields Fun Park and Pony Centre
- MacDonald’s Farm, Padstow
- Trevaskis Farm
- Tamar Valley Donkey Park
- Newquay Zoo
- Cornish Camels/Rosuick Organic Farm.
Grab your shepherd’s crook and your wellies, and let’s set off on our exploration of farms in Cornwall!
Dairyland Farm Park
This farm park has spared no expense when it comes to fun and hospitality — regardless of the weather. On wet days, it’s no trouble keeping the family entertained with Dairyland Farm Park’s wide range of indoor activities.
They’ve got the Bull Pen — a full-on indoor play park with slides, jump zones, and a ball pit. You can enjoy a range of drinks and snacks (including the obligatory Cornish pasties) while the kids let loose. This zone is great for younger kids!
The Cannon Bull zone lets the wee ones test their aim with softball cannons. You can marshall the troops in team vs. team cannon battles, or peacefully practise with targets.
You can catch your breath and swat up on Cornish history in the Cornish Life Museum, or The Creamery.
The hearty farmhouse kitchen is the perfect spot to refuel on a chilly day. Enjoy gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian dishes, plus plenty of options for the rest of us!
Fans of creatures and critters can visit the Pat-a-Pet station, Bug Zone, or Hay Barn. Dairyland Farm Park also has the mandatory souvenir shop packed with local goodies and adorable stuffed animals.
When the weather is good, there is twice as much fun to be had. The athletes amongst us (big and small) can:
- Test their mettle on the Scrambled Legs agility course
- Hang out on the flying foxes
- Show off their skills on the trampolines.
The wee ones can also experience the magic of a pony ride!
The whole family can enjoy the beautiful Cornish landscape with a Tractor Ride, or a stroll down the Wildlife Trail. There are several play areas, including a Digger Zone, Construction Zone (think sandpit – not rusty nails), and Ark Play Zone.
For one of the more unique activities, can test your milking skills on a robot cow. Alternatively, visit flesh-and-blood sheep, cows, alpacas, llamas, and all sorts of baby critters.
However, the stars of the park have to be— in a completely unpredictable twist — the family of friendly meerkats!
Healeys Cornish Cyder Farm
Healeys is a Cornish institution — owned and operated for 30 years by two generations of Cornish folk. These days, Healeys is the largest “independent cyder-maker in Cornwall”.
Healeys’ cyder is extracted with a historic 16th-century press and fermented on the grounds of a 150-year-old farm.
Despite being a cidery, the farm offers entertainment for the whole family. Grown-ups can enjoy tasting cider, gin, and England’s oldest whiskey, while everyone else can try traditional jams, scones, and soft drinks.
There’s more than just apples growing at Healeys Cornish Cyder Farm. Visit and meet a menagerie of lovely animals, including:
- Shire horses
- Shetland ponies
- Chickens
- Rabbits
- Ferrets
- Pygmy goats
- Cornish black pigs
- Donkeys
- Peacocks.
Tours of the cidery are available. They can include tastings of jam, gin, brandy, and all sorts of apple-based products!
These word’s sum up the experience perfectly: “can’t visit Cornwall without Bobbing into the Cyder Farm”!
Roskilly’s Farm
Roskilly’s is a rare producer of single-origin milk ice cream. Joe and Rachel use around 450,000 litres of milk from their Cornish farm in the Roskilly’s creamery.
The resulting product has been dubbed by myself (and many others) as: “best ice cream in the world”.
If you’re not ready to jump straight to dessert, you might start at the Croust House Restaurant. Locally caught fish, organic beef, lamb, and pork — as well as vegetarian options — are lovingly prepared at Roskilly’s onsite restaurant.
In addition to the artisan ice cream, at Roskilly’s you can pick up a range of homemade jams, chutneys, mustards, and organic fudges.
The ice cream parlour offers sorbet for the lactose intolerant, as well as sundaes, scoops, and milkshakes for everyone else.
Roskilly’s hospitality goes well beyond dining! Cornish cottages are available for stays near the farm. You can shop for local artworks and crafts, kids books, and wooden toys at the Bullpen gallery.
For a constitutional — after your ice cream — you can take a stroll through the Old Withy Woods and Roskilly’s wild valley meadows.
The farmyard at Roskilly’s is well stocked with friendly animals — geese, turkeys, goats, sheep, calves, chickens, pigs, and more. Most of these animals can be hand fed with bags from the Croust House!
Springfields Fun Park and Pony Centre
Springfields is perfect for a day visit or a longer stay. Campsites and static caravans are available to rent for the latter!
Take your sweetheart for a turn about the lake in a row boat, or challenge your nearest and dearest to a race in dodgems and go-karts. Wee ones or romantics will adore the original turn-of-the-century merry-go-round.
There are tractor tours of the park, in addition to rides on the Shetlands ponies or visits with the Shire and Clydesdale horses. Pigs, goats, alpacas, llamas, ducks, and chickens will all be excited to say hello — especially when you feed them!
On rainy days, the kids can burn off some energy in the Springfields Play Barn. The Play Barn has a special under-two zone for the tiniest of the tiny. For bigger kids, there are slides, astra mats, and an enchanted UV woodland!
MacDonald’s Farm, Padstow
Old MacDonald had a farm — and Nick and Lisa have one too! MacDonald’s Farm was acquired by Nick and Lisa in 2020. They have made great strides in upgrading the grounds and facilities since moving in with their kids and hound.
The grounds include a light and airy bar (with a pool table) and café. Nearby, you’ll find a playground for the wee ones and lawn games for the family.
Plenty of animal petting options are available — alpacas, goats, rabbits — plus pony riding, goat walking, and farm tours.
MacDonald’s Farm puts on daily ‘Food at the Farm’ evenings in their festoon-lit garden — complementing the magical Cornish atmosphere. Free WIFI, charging ports, games, and a cosy log burner are available in the café on wet winter days!
Some visitors to MacDonald’s Farm can’t bear to leave — and that is more than okay with Nick and Lisa. Pitch a tent or park your motorhome in their renovated campground and enjoy the brand-new shower and bathroom blocks.
The MacDonald’s facilities are clean and modern structures — not at all like the campground bathrooms we grew up with. You can get your gas bottle filled and replaced, charge your phone, do the laundry, and wash up with ease.
MacDonald’s has beautiful views of the valley, and is only ten minute’s walk from the beach.
Trevaskis Farm
There is a lot going on at Trevaskis Farm. It’s a truly idyllic destination, designed to connect you to, and celebrate, the richest and sweetest fruits of the land.
Trevaskis’ market boasts the best offerings of fresh produce, meats, fish, and artisanal products that the Cornish countryside can offer.
The Farm Restaurant is supplied by Trevaskis’ Organic Kitchen Garden plus the produce and bounty of local farmers and fisherfolk.
Trevaskis Farm has become a marvellous educational resource in recent years. School groups and individuals enjoy the wealth of agricultural knowledge and the direct connection to food production that Trevaskis provides.
The farm itself is home to a host of traditional farm animals, including:
- British (or should that be Cornish) lop sows and their darling piglets
- Moorland ponies
- Goats
- Donkeys
- Sheep and their sweet wee lambs
- All sorts of chickens
- Welsh Harlequin ducks
- West of England geese.
The thing that has put Trevaskis on the map since way back in the 80s is the Pick Your Own produce fields.
Nowadays, you can spend a day out with the family scrumping produce straight from the tree, vine, or bush! There is plenty of produce to pick from, such as:
- Loganberries
- Gooseberries
- Strawberries
- Beans
- Peas
- Raspberries.
A visit to Trevaskis Farm is strongly encouraged: “Go hungry, leave full with a box of leftovers!”
Tamar Valley Donkey Park
Tamar Valley Donkey Park is a refuge for all kinds of critters — with a focus on donkeys, of course.
You can pet and feed donkeys, ponies, goats, sheep, pigs, guinea pigs, and rabbits here, and if you’re feeling generous, you can even sponsor a donkey or a goat for a modest adoption fee!
The kids (yours – not the ram’s) can enjoy the indoor and outdoor playgrounds, mini-tractor rides, and donkey grooming. Hungry families will enjoy the hot and cold food, plus Cornish cream teas — offered all day at Holly’s Café!
Newquay Zoo
Newquay Zoo isn’t exactly a farm, but it is Cornish, and it is full of friendly animals.
There are over 100 different critters living at Newquay Zoo; if I listed them all here, I’d be well on my way to compiling a zoological encyclopedia!
Newquay Zoo is actively engaged in supporting and participating in species conservation, locally and abroad. When you visit Newquay Zoo, you’re supporting an active and significant charitable organisation.
There is a range of experiences awaiting your visit to this Cornish Zoo. Visitors can wander about the grounds and displays, observing animals at their own leisure. If you’re keen for a more intimate experience, that can also be arranged.
Newquay Zoo offers several staff-directed Animal Experiences. For instance, brave adventurers can journey out to Lemur Island, where you can learn about the mischievous lemurs — and even try your hand at feeding them!
The Tapir Experience brings you and your family snout to snout with the esteemed tapir population of Newquay Zoo.
Newquay’s knowledgeable staff will teach you all about the habits and preoccupations of these noble beasts. Brave souls are even granted the honour of hand feeding these magnificent tapirs!
For the career-minded parent, there are even opportunities for your wee fellows to get a little light work experience. Newquay Zoo offers a Junior Zoo Keeper Experience to little animal aficionados.
During the experience, kids get to spend two full hours under the wings of trained Zookeepers. With the zookeepers’ careful guidance, your wee ones will learn to feed and handle the non-human residents of Newquay Zoo!
At the end of their apprenticeships, the kids will be teaching you about the creatures they’ve learnt to care for.
Newquay Zoo has plenty of provisions for humans and animals alike. Take your pick from three unique dining destinations:
- Café Lemur — serving a seasonal menu of locally sourced family favourites such as pizzas, burgers, salads, and picnic boxes
- Lazy Lion Grill — grab a sandwich, wrap, Cornish pasty, or something sweet
- Meerkat Munchies — cool off with an ice lolly or Cornish ice cream!
Cornish Camels/Rosuick Organic Farm
Cornish Camels is located on the grounds of the Rosuick Organic Farm. The Rosuick Organic Farm has been managed by the Oates family since as early as the 1700s, and is a site deeply immersed in the history of Cornwall.
Welsh Black cattle are the central focus of the working farm’s commercial efforts. Sheep are also kept — as part of the maintenance of several Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The namesake for ‘Cornish Camels’ comes from the Oates family’s pet herd of Bactrian camels. These charming creatures are more than ready to meet and greet guests to the farm.
Educational visits can be organised for groups of children or adults. Individuals, or groups, with complex physical, mental, or emotional needs are especially encouraged to visit the farm.
A range of activities are available, from farm tours, gardening, and beekeeping, through to building birdhouses, or exploring the Sensory Garden!
There are several historical buildings at Cornish Camels, including:
- The more than 500 year old cob-and-thatch Corn Chamber. Once a storehouse for grain and straw, the Corn Chamber is now a Farm Museum and wedding venue
- The equally ancient Wagon House. The Wagon House was, for 500 years, a farm equipment store. These days it plays host to weddings and receptions.
Cornish Camels is a wonderful wedding or event venue, too. Rosuick Organic Farm is perfect for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the land and history of Cornwall!
Introducing Eliot, the Editor here and Cornwall local with a wanderlust spirit and an insatiable appetite for adventure. With a passion for the great outdoors, he can often be found catching waves on his surfboard, scaling peaks on a hiking trail, or discovering hidden gems in his exploration of Cornwall.