Leyton City Farm

I've lived in London for ten years and have never visited a city farm, I know, it's a crime!  Yesterday I rectified this by heading to Brooks Farm, in Leyton.  It was muddy and wet but full of animals, in other words, a great way to spend Saturday morning.  The farm is quite small, sat next to a local park with an awesome climbing frame (oh to be a kid again) and has a good selection of animals, from donkeys, turkeys, llamas and lambs. After growing up in the countryside it was strange to think that this farm, and places like it, are sometimes the only way city kids can get up close to farmyard animals.  It's a great educational resource for the borough, and a lovely morning out for people like me who just want to see a goat, or cow.

For more information about the farm click here

As soon as we walked through the gates we were met by the smell of the countryside, as well as a couple of friendly donkeys who tried to nibble on my hand.  It's a very relaxed farm, allowing you to stroke the animals, if the animals are so inclined.  We did see a sign saying you could buy feed for the animals but nowhere to actually purchase the feed. I guess a Saturday in January is not their busiest time, which was great for us in one way, as there were only a couple of other visitors around, but bad as we couldn't find anyone to get feed from.  Some of the enclosures were a little depressing as they were just churned up mud with no grazing available, but I guess that's exactly what the animals would have to deal with at the countryside anyway; mud and hay. We got to make friends with a couple of lambs, a cow and Stuart was intimated by a giant goat.  Seriously, he was the biggest goat I have ever seen! I don't think the photo below gives a full indication of his size but he certainly took a disliking to Stuart for some reason, giving him a little headbut and threatening to walk out of his enclosure (he was so big no bars could contain him!)

More regular sized goats. I love goats, they are the best part of any farm! Always inquisitive.

This goat made friends with Stuart. It helped that he was at least half the size of the monster goat!

All in all it was a lovely morning out, and I look forward to heading back on less rainy, muddy day. I think it'll be a great place to visit in the spring, especially if they have more lambs!