Hoiday accommodation for children

Have you thought about separating the two things and booking into a child-friendly B&B close to a petting farm. There's several around the country depending where you want to go. I'm sure other GNutters could help with locations.
how about??

Dangran There is a very good reason why farms are worried about children staying on farms. The next three paragraphs summarised results of a report on people becoming ill after visiting petting farms.

"Between 1992 and 2009 there were 55 outbreaks of gastrointestinal diseases linked to petting farms. Over 1,300 people caught illnesses ranging from severe diarrhea to more serious conditions. The majority needed hospital treatment.

Children under the age of 10 were disproportionally affected because they are more vulnerable to serious illness from these infections, particularly E. coli O157. Children under the age of five are also more likely to pick up these infections because of poor personal hygiene–for example, at that age they are more prone to sticking fingers, thumbs or toys into their mouths.

Contributory factors included direct contact with pre-weaned animals–such as lambs, calves and kid goats–or direct contact with the animal feces of animals such as cattle, sheep and goats. Inadequate hand washing facilities at the farms was another important factor."

Petting farms nowadays have washing facilities and notices telling you to use them everywhere. A working farm can provide none of these facilities or safety measures and do not want to risk being sued if a child becomes very seriously ill after staying on farm.

Incidentally alcohol-based gels often used to clean hands are ineffective against these animal based illnesses, Hands must be washed in soap and water.

Farms are among the most dangerous places in the country and I would guess that insurance for holidaymakers with young children is prohibitive. Also an ordinary working farm isn't a storybook like place. One that specialises in rare breeds or similar might be worth a try.

Google 'farm parks'. It seems that there are plenty of these and you can probably find either B&B or self catering accommodation somewhere nearby.

What about Toronto zoo?

A 20 month old is really too young to appreciate staying on a farm. Working farms can be boring for small children because everyone is out at work and that's not going to be in an old fashioned farm yard.

Do you watch Countryfile?

This looks lovely

www.featherdown.co.uk/index.html I would love to go with the family to a Feather Down Farm. It is expensive glamping, but the huts are well appointed and you light your own wood burning stove for cooking. There are lots of hands-on activities for children on the farm. I notice they were voted the best by Mumsnet in 2011 and 2012.

We stayed on a lovely Dairy farm in Wales they had other animals too and were only too happy for children to stay. The accommodation was in self catering converted farm buildings although the you could order meals from the Farm house if you wanted , its also near a beautiful part of the coast.. I could find a link if you were interested in that part of the World.

We did that, too, in a north Wales farm at Easter when they were still lambing. The children watched lambs arriving and the apprentice sheepdog befriended them, and would come to the door each morning to collect them. One of the best holidays we've had.

Obviously Wales is the place to go
I guess there is a lot more hands-on in a petting farm than in a working farm.