WOW! What a fantastic day we had at Thornton Hall Farm! The children engaged and showed great bravery in completing such a variety of activities with so many different animals. They used good listening to ensure they (and the animals) stayed safe. They used gentle hands and were considerate of scaring the animals and weary of the Llamas and Alpacas spitting. They climbed a big hill, but their exhausted legs kept going all day, eager to discover the next animal and activity. All earnt a good play in the enormous soft play to end the day, before we boarded the coach home, on which nearly all the children slept. 

Over the day we saw:

• Red Deer
• Fallow Deer
• Sheep
• Llamas
• Alpacas
• Bunnies
• Guinea Pigs
• Goats
• Pygmy Goats
• Pigs
• Chickens
• Horses
• Donkeys 
• A Pony
• Lambs
• Calves
• Cows

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Our first adventure was up a big hill. Our legs found it hard to get to the top, but we remembered our Concept Cat word 'fast' and climbed the hill as fast as we could to discover our first animal. When we reached the top of the hill and a big open field, we saw some Red Deer and Fallow Deer and also, some very noisy and nosey sheep. We learnt that Red Deer are big and a reddish colour and that Fallow Deer are smaller with white bottoms. We met Bruce who is the Stag, the leader of the herd. His antlers had recently fallen off, so he just had his antler stumps. 

After we had fed the Red Deer, we used our strong muscles to lift one of Bruce's antlers. They are extremely heavy.

We returned to the main farm barns, a little easier on the legs going downhill. Once we reached one the big barns, we were introduced to some new animals, Llamas and Alpacas. Do you know how to spot the difference between a Llama and an Alapaca? Red Class can tell you... ask them!

We fed the Llamas and Alpacas being careful not to be spat at. 

In the same barn is the petting area, which houses several Bunnies and Guinea Pigs. We were delighted to find that the Bunnies had just had their babies, so we could stroke the tiny baby Bunnies and a couple of the Guinea Pigs too.  

We had a quick play on the bouncy pillows, then stopped for lunch. Food giving us some much needed energy to continue our adventures in the afternoon. 

Refuelled and eager to discover more animals, we set off for the other big barn which houses more Llamas, two very sleepy Donkeys, a Shetland Pony called Coco, several cows and many cheeky goats. We fed most of these animals, and gave the cows a good head scratch – they loved it! 

Next onto possibly the cutest part of the day, the new spring Lambs and Calves. We got to give them their milk. We were surprised by how quickly the Calves drank their warm milk. The Lambs tails wiggling about while they drank made us giggle.

 

The final barn houses two Horses, lots of Chickens, some Pygmy Goats and two very squeaky pigs. We gave the Horses a little stroke and then fed the rest of the animals. The Pigs were extremely noisy, but when we had fed them, they seemed much happier... good work team! 

 Miss Franklin was really proud of us today, doing super listening and being so sensible with animals... which meant one thing... SOFT PLAY!

 After getting our coats and shoes back on, we ambled back to the bus and most of us slept the whole way home, tired from all the fresh air, learning and adventures we had been on.

Oh... but just one more thing...