Mabie Farm Park

On the final day of our weekend in Southerness (we stayed at Parkdean Holiday Village), we decided to head to Mabie Farm Park. Mabie farm park is in the Dumfries and Galloway countryside and is in a beautiful setting. It is about 15 minutes drive from Southerness and I cannot recommend it enough for a day out if you have children regardless of their age. My little boy is 2 years old and loves animals and we even have an annual pass for Blackpool Zoo.

Mabie farm is owned and operated by Julia and Allan Shuttleworth and have made it a very enjoyable, fun day out. It costs £6.50 for adults and £6.00 for children admission. You can also buy bags of food at 50 pence and you are asked four legs or two?. This is because they sell food for the goats and pigs and also the ducks and chicks.
The park is open daily from 10am until 5pm from April until 30 October. There is plenty of parking available.

The day that we went to the farm was beautiful weather and there was even talk on the radio, that it was the hottest day so far. There are activities for all weather conditions. The animals that you can see are goats. pigs, lambs, buffalo, cows, Shetland ponies and many more. There are also birds such as peacocks, quail, hens, guinea fowl and ducks plus many more. There are also donkeys available and donkey rides for the children (they are provided with riding hats.)

The outdoor facilities consist of four lane astroslide, bouncy castles (to suit different ages), a huge jumping pillow (that I really wanted to play on but not really appropriate), 2 AstroTurf grass slides for grass sledging, quad bikes for the older children and a huge area for running around or just playing. There is also a small express that runs around the farm, a boating pond and pedal go karts for children 4 plus. My little boy's favourite was the children's wooden houses which is situated near to trampolines, there are either 3 or 4 plus a plastic one and he loved playing in them.

Should the weather be a bit rubbish, then there is still plenty of indoor activities going on.  There is a straw barn with rope swings and bales of hay to play with, an indoor climbing wall, keep fit area for toddlers and ride on tractors. There is of course the indoor barns with the goats, pigs etc as well.

In the afternoons, there is an opportunity to handle some of the smaller residents such as guinea pigs, mice and rabbits. There are picnic areas scattered around the farm and you are permitted to bring your own food and have picnic, there is just a sign at the cafe asking that it is just used for people buying food, which is fair enough. You are also permitted to bring your portable barbeque's and there is an area set aside for this.

I was quite surprised at how reasonable the food was in the cafe/tea room, as usually when you go to tourist attractions and there is nowhere else close by to buy food, you get ripped off.  They sell hot and cold food, snacks, crisps and sweets and there is also an ice cream counter selling the local 'cream of Galloway' ice cream.

I forgot to mention above that some of the rides such as Donkey rides, quad bikes, paddle boat and the choo choo express, there is an additional charge for but everything else is included in your admission.  On the way out (and on the way in) you go via the shop.  The shop sells toys, wellies and raincoats as well as home made items such as jams, cakes (inc coffee cake which was yummy) and other home made items.

We found Mabie Farm quite by accident while looking for something outside of Parkdean to do in our weekend. I don't think we have anything like this anywhere near where I live, which is such a shame as it was a great day out. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend the whole day as we had to travel home, but we had a good few  hours or so which went to quickly and our little boy didn't want to go.

 If you are staying in the Dumfries/Galloway area or at Southerness, then I recommend a day here especially of you get good weather as it does make a difference. But whatever you decide to do, enjoy your visit.