James celebrated his third birthday with a day out to Woodside Animal Farm, Leisure Park and Mini Zoo.

Woodside is near Luton in the little village of Slip End, and there were certainly plenty of things to do there, just right for the active three year old. You could buy bags of animal feed to feed the goats, lamas and sheep. There were a range of different chickens including some lovely Orpingtons and some poor things with bare necks. They were supposed to have bare necks and they originated from a hot country so it kept them cool. But I’m afraid I didn’t find them terribly attractive, poor things. They also provided a sort of chicken holiday home where people could bring their birds while they went away, which I thought was a very good idea.

Apart from the animals, there were plenty of things to climb on and play in ranging from half a dozen old tractors sunk in the sand, to an ordinary sand pit, trampolines and a huge bouncy castle which the adults were allowed in too! There was a fun fair but several of the rides were not open. It may be worth checking with Woodside before you go if you particularly want to go on the rides. They did open one of the roundabouts in the afternoon though and James enjoyed his ride on that.

There are various events during the day including regular tractor rides around the farm and a session for rabbit cuddling which James enjoyed very much. The children sit on logs and have a little mat and then a rabbit placed on their knees.

We took some lunch with us and there were plenty of picnic benches, but there was also a rather nice restaurant attached to a playbarn providing a range of childrens and adults meals. The tea and coffee was from a machine which was a bit of a shame but apart from that the facilities were lovely.

We finished in the shop of course but a shop with a slight difference as they provided all the animal feed and pet supplies as well as real chickens and ducks to buy. They had some lovely call ducks which I would happily have slipped into my pocket.

James had a great day at Woodside and would highly recommend it to his friends.