Matlock Farm Park
Matlock Farm Park
4
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 4:30 PM
About
Matlock Farm Park is a family friendly attraction, providing a great day out with varied activities for all the family. The park has a large selection of animals to see including llamas, goats, peacocks, meerkats, chickens, pigs, alpacas, ducks and deer to name a few. Daily activities include Small Animal Handling, Meet the Lambs (seasonal) Wallaby Encounter and Meerkat Talk & Feed. At weekends and school holidays there's also Pony Rides, Ferret and sheep racing too! Check out the website for special events. There are specially designed playgrounds indoors and out. There's even a go-cart track for the kids and many places for the adults to relax if they wish. Group party bookings and fantastic children's birthday parties are also catered for, please ring for details. There is a licensed café serving hot food and several food outlets, classrooms and a gift shop. We are fully accessible! Horse Riding Lessons and Pony Trekking are also available with prior booking. Open all year round.
Duration: More than 3 hours
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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  • Gemma T
    1 contribution
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Excellent 😊
    Visited yesterday for the first time and what a fantastic day it was. Customer service was brilliant, so well organised. special credit to the young lad hosting everything on the time table he was brilliant. All the animals are so well looked after and you can tell they are very loved. Cleanest toilets I may have ever been in and plenty of them too. Excellent catering facilities, Brownies were amazing. Plenty to do and see. If you like animals and the outdoors would highly recommend. Thankyou for a fantastic day out. We cannot wait to return ❤️
    Visited March 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 19 March 2023
  • LJ
    Northamptonshire, United Kingdom26 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great day out for great value!
    Visited here with a group of friends and had a great fun! Definitely would recommend getting a bag of food really makes the experience complete, we had one bag between for 4 of us and was more than enough. Big variety of animals and there was a lot of events on throughout the day that all looked very fun! Also would recommend going to the food van near the entrance, I had a pulled pork roll and it was absolutely delicious!
    Visited March 2023
    Written 30 March 2023
  • Amelia W
    Derby, United Kingdom5 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Best farm day out in Derbyshire
    Well what can I say, I fell in love with this place a few years back and have been a regular visitor ever since. Now I have my own child I have brought us a membership as I plan to be there weekly - maybe even twice weekly. Theres so much to do, the staff are so welcoming it's like visiting friends. The animals are so friendly and there's information boards allover so we learn something new each visit. I plan to home educate and this place is so on board with that which is refreshing. They also respond to their customers quickly if you have any issues at all. I honestly can't fault the place. Is there room for improvement? Of course!! But they are constantly expanding and improving they make it hard to pick any meaningful fault. I'd like to see a bigger indoor play area for smaller children like toddlers. They are too big for the baby bit but too small for the rest of it but to me it's a minor issue as we are usually too busy on the farm to go indoors. Also I'd like to see some tractor rides or something occasionally in the summer, I'd love to see more of the working farm and my son LOVES tractors haha 🤣 but that's just selfish of me. All in all I highly recommend them for a visit. Well priced and so much fun for the whole family.
    Visited March 2023
    Written 3 April 2023
  • Oxana
    2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great experience
    It was nice experience for the little one. He enjoyed feeding the animals and playing in the playground area. Just for information some activities are only available one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon so you need to plan the times.( 10.30-11.30, 13.30-14.30).
    Visited April 2023
    Written 3 April 2023
  • Amy W
    Cotswolds, United Kingdom77 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    AMAZING place!! (Bring packed lunch)
    Amazing place! Soooo much for the kids to do my little one loved it , the mix of animal and farm stuff mixed with play areas is brilliant for keeping little ones entertained will definitely be coming again! Only thing that let it down was the restaurant, food really poor and cafe facilities very poor so will bring packed lunch in future. If could lift Bluebell Farm cafe facilities and put them here would be the best farm park in the country :)
    Visited April 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 4 April 2023
  • Clare W
    Heanor, United Kingdom409 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Easter fun
    We've been here a few times and always enjoy it. I've only ever been in term time so never realised how busy it can get but it was nice to see. Yes it was very busy but still plenty of room to take your time. They have really improved over the last few years with all the new things ( sandpit, jumping pillow etc) the animals are clearly all well looked after and the park is immaculate. All the staff we saw looked like they thoroughly enjoyed working there. Only reason I've knocked one star off is because the gift shop isn't that good. Lot's of expensive Teddie's but nothing to interest a little lad at all. No books or toys. Shame because that's the only let down but it saved me money so I'll let them off 😊 we'll be back soon.
    Visited April 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 4 April 2023
  • scardygirl
    29 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Family day out
    Superb day out, very clean everywhere, food in cafe great quality n very reasonably priced, staff all friendly. Animals all looked well cared for. Grandkids had a fab time.
    Visited April 2023
    Travelled with friends
    Written 5 April 2023
  • Joanne R
    2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Fun day out, sensibly priced, love the animals
    We go here several times a year, my grandsons 9 and 12 love it, they love the animals (they got to pet a lamb) there are enough play areas for them to let off steam whilst grandma sits with a freshly made coffee. It was busy when we arrived but staff were on hand to show us where to park. Great day out, and prices are really good 👍
    Visited April 2023
    Written 6 April 2023
  • Elisabeth H
    Redditch, United Kingdom57 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Generally good, but it was chilly
    This is what I would consider to be a run of the mill farm park. It's a bit chilly, there are classic farm park animals and there were a selection of play areas. The children enjoyed it, but it wasn't the most amazing farm park in the world. If you're not part of a birthday party, you also have to time your trip to the toilet so you don't clash with an entire birthday party and their parents being released to the toilets at the same time....
    Visited April 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 6 April 2023
  • Robert Y
    2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Well worth a visit and would recommend everytime
    Gloomy day but brightened up by (A) helpful staff (B) Accessibility brilliant! (C) Good well looked after animals. I have emailed Twycross Zoo to contact you on how to even try to match your offering!!!
    Visited April 2023
    Written 8 April 2023
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4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles1,302 reviews
Excellent
737
Very good
296
Average
146
Poor
76
Terrible
47

Maria
Devon, UK52 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Family
Had a fab afternoon with grandsons ( ages - 4 & 8 ).
They enjoyed feeding some of the animals & learning a bit about them too. They were fascinated by the meerkats & the wallabies. They loved the bouncing pillow & the various play areas meeting new play buddies on the sand & gravel apparatus, diggers & the big tractor.
Overall a really pleasant afternoon had by all including us too.
Written 16 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

josina r
Chesterfield, UK27 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Family
Were do I start? Our day began with a top class bacon butty served by Julie, service with a smile and very polite,then had a coffee at the coffee van which was lovely, perfect start to the day.
First impression, the park was clean and tidy. This is the first park we have been to were all the animal were in well kept camps and they all looked super healthy and looked after.
Loved the selection of animals. The sheep race was so much fun loved it.
Play areas could not fault it. Just a observation, the Rain forest play area, the restaurant was not very clean.
We had the best day, our little girl didn't want to leave. I am now planning a classmate day out, that is how much you have impressed us as a family. Can't wait to come back.
Written 4 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
WOW! 'top class' This is praise indeed! We're so delighted with this review and really appreciate your positive comments on our clean and tidy farm park, very polite staff, and super healthy, looked-after animals! 😁 We're pleased that you enjoyed the wide selection of animals and the sheep race too! The area of the Rainforest play barn which you refer to will be the coffee lounge seating area where children and adults sit to eat and drink. Our staff work hard to continually keep it clean and tidy, however apologies if it wasn't so during your visit. We pride ourselves in providing an excellent customer experience therefore our team will work to improve this. It's great to hear that you will be returning for another visit. You might like to walk a sheep, meet the lambs or try a short pony ride next time too! 😊 See you soon!
Written 5 March 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Katy H
8 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Family
Amazing day at the farm, will definitely visit again. The pony rides and highland cows were the highlight of our day, and baby Romeo was adorable.
Written 4 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for coming along to meet our new Highland calf, Romeo. We're delighted to hear you had an amazing day here at the farm park and had fun riding a pony. We hope you enjoyed our animal activities throughout the day too! We appreciate you taking the time to review. We look forward to your next visit! 😊
Written 11 March 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Zeezu
5 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
Although its called a farm they didn't have many animals out in comparison to the size of the place. We've been to much better farms for half the price and much more interactive.

My son was looking forward to walking through the Wallaby encounter but that was closed for the afternoon which was very disappointing especially as I'd rang up in the morning to check availability and if any issues. So we went back to the entrance to buy some animal feed but the animals that were out most of the fences had signs saying not to feed them today and the 2 goats you could feed had lots of people around them, again a total waste of money!

The small animal petting station had a queue 10mins before they started and the workers just sat there staring at the people and waited until 1.45pm before they let anyone through. Very strange as its not as though they were doing anything other than watching the clock to strike 1.45pm. This was disappointing to say the least as we have been to farms where you can hold the rabbit or guinea pig and they tell you how to handle the animals....but this was far from that in fact I felt sorry for the pets as it was literally a petting the animals head session!!

My son did enjoy the bouncing pillow and the play areas so wasn't a total waste of an afternoon.

I wouldnt waste your money as like I said they didn't have many animals out at all!
Written 25 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We're glad that your son enjoyed the visit, bouncing on the Jumping Pillow and playing in the various play areas / play barn. Matlock Farm Park consists of 28 fields of animals providing lots of space for them to roam. The public are allowed to feed all four-legged animals which includes; cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, donkeys, ponies, deer, alpacas and llamas. Pigs and donkeys cannot be hand fed, however feed can still be thrown into their pens. There are only a a couple of older animals which cannot be fed due to being on a special diet monitored by our dedicated staff. We do in fact have more than the 2 goats you mention, we have a total of 10 goats which can all be seen and hand fed. All of the other farm animals would have been in their fields during your visit. The scheduled time of the wallaby encounter during your visit was 12-12:30pm therefore the enclosure wasn't due to be re-opened afterwards, however the animals can still be seen. This was advertised on our website home page, on our social media and also on the park events board at the entrance. There were no issues or cancellations to report prior to your visit. Sorry that you missed this activity. Other activities during the afternoon were sheep racing, calf bottle feeding, sheep walk, ferret race and meerkat talk and feed. We offer small animal petting sessions rather than handling sessions for the welfare of our animals. It also provides more enjoyment for children as they can get up close to pet and stroke a variety of animals during the session times and also watch them play and interact. This is a very popular activity with positive feedback. We apologise that you had to wait for this session. The staff have been reminded to start this session earlier during busy periods. All of the animal activities and playtime fun are included with park entry, providing great value for money.
Written 26 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

jimigem
Derby, UK9 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
We had a great day here (again) 2 yr old and 12 yr old both loved it. Didn’t try the cafe as we brought our own snacks, but there seemed plenty of food on offer (a little pricey but isn’t everything these days), being half term and being directed to the over flow car park we expected the worse but there really was no need as even with a lot of people the placed didn’t feel crowded at all, only down side was it was freezing so we’ll defo be back in summer! I note a review about rude staff but we found them all lovely.
Written 24 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for visiting despite the cold weather. So pleased that you all had a great day and that you found the park to be nice and spacious, even on a busy day. We hope you enjoyed our half term events and we look forward to seeing you again in the Summer!
Written 12 March 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

NT3333
8 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
Great day out with the kids, we stayed around 4 hours although if the weather was better it would probably have been longer. The enchanted play area was brilliant and kept them busy for ages, a few more tables in there under the cover would be useful for this colder weather. They petted some smaller animals, had a horse ride (£3.50), walked through the wallaby enclosure, fed the animals in the paddocks, watched the sheep race and enjoyed the different play areas. We didn't get to the indoor soft play as it was really busy but there was plenty more to do
Written 17 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for your 5 star review! We are delighted that you all enjoyed the various guided animal activities and that the Enchanted Hamlet went down a treat. It's lovely to be able to enjoy refreshments down at the hamlet whilst the children play and we will look into providing more seating for everyone's comfort. We hope to welcome you back soon!
Written 18 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Ella G
1 contribution
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Friends
Overall the farm itself is lovely. But We were disappointed with the way the small animal handing and calf feeding was organised... absolute chaos comes to mind. People shoving each other and not managed well at all. Children had to be quickly ushered on as I felt it wasn't really safe for them. Staff definitely need to organise this better to make it fair for everyone!!
My main complaint of the day was when we stopped for lunch. We had 2 toddlers with us, any parent knows toddlers are fussy and so we had packed lunches for them. We went to eat in the cafe as a couple of us wanted to order hot food. We were told quite rudley we were not allowed to eat inside, even though we were paying customers. The reason for this is for allergies, of which we understand as one of the toddlers has allergies himself, but to be forced to sit outside in the freezing cold when we were purchasing hot food was disgusting. Never been to any venue where we've been forced to sit outside before!! Especially as a paying customer in the cafe... absolutely appalled by this. Won't be rushing to return and will be spreading the word about this situation so other parents are aware of this.
Written 17 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for leaving a review, however with regards to your issues in the cafe, please be aware and give consideration to the fact that we do not set the rules for visitors not being able to bring their own food into the cafe - it is the Department of Environmental Health who stipulate these rules and we have to stick to them to meet strict food hygiene and health and safety standards. We do have clear signage up explaining the requirements before visitors enter the cafe and inside the cafe to avoid any embarrassment for customers. We serve a whole range of popular food items for all allergies and intolerances and for those who prefer to bring their own food, we happily provide several covered picnic areas, one directly outside the cafe, importantly all with heaters for visitors to use for their own comfort. Our animal petting and calf feeding are popular activities, with people sometimes being over-eager to get to the front, but our staff are trained to manage queuing and they usually do this very effectively. We will recap with those staff members looking after the events on the day you visited to ensure improved efficiency.
Written 18 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

234Darren
Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England186 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
Visited Monday 12th Feb. Free for children but still quite pricey. Cost us £30 and we managed to fill 3 hours. Its quite small but some nice activities - sheep racing, calf feeding and small animal petting. Nice outdoor play area and jumping pillow. Thats about it. We’d read about the Smoke House so was looking forward to it but it was closed so we had to put up with their cafe which wasn’t that great. Compared to other family days out, we didn’t find enough to do to warrant the cost. Williams Den, Stockeld Park are all similar prices and offer a full day as does Cannon Hall Farm. We also discovered Wigfield Farm in Barnsley which is very similar animals and this is only £2 entry. We did enjoy our visit, it’s well run but probably won’t return due to value for money, if we had to pay for our little boy, it would have been £45 - they also charge extra for crazy golf, pony rides and a few other activities and there just isn’t enough to do.
Written 14 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We're glad you enjoyed your visit and found the farm park to be well run. The daily activities are all free with park entry and in addition to those you mention include wallaby encounter where visitors can walk through the enclosure and meet the animals. Meerkat talk and feed is an informative talk followed by an interactive feeding session. There is an opportunity to walk a sheep if you wish and also the ever popular ferret race where you can cheer on your favourite to win! We have an indoor play barn and soft play too with a coffee lounge serving refreshments and food. Around the park you will find a Tot's play area with sand pit, a second play area for older children and also our Enchanted Hamlet multi-zone play area and large sand pit with small go-karts, diggers, mud kitchen and pulley systems. We even have the UK's largest Jumping Pillow! Not to mention the array of friendly farm animals to meet and feed. All providing value for money and hours of fun and entertainment for all. Apologies that the Smoke House was closed. The outdoor cabins have limited opening times during winter. Thank you for visiting Matlock Farm Park.
Written 15 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Emma
3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
Despite the weather not being on our side, we took advantage of all the activities and the staff are very knowledgeable and friendly.
Written 14 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you very much for your lovely review! It's great to hear that even in poor weather, you were able to have an enjoyable time with us due to our activities and facilities. Thank you also for your kind comments about our lovely staff - we'll be sure to pass these on. We hope to see you again soon!
Written 18 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Glenn T
1 contribution
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
We had a great time with our 5 year old. Plenty to do, indoors and outdoors. Lots of different animals, and a brilliant bounce pillow. We will visit again!
Written 13 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We're pleased that you had a great family day out and found plenty to see and do, including meeting lots of friendly animals and bouncing on the UK's largest Jumping Pillow! We hope you enjoyed our interactive animal activities too which are available at intervals throughout the day, every day. We look forward to seeing you again!
Written 12 March 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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MATLOCK FARM PARK: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about Matlock Farm Park

Matlock Farm Park is open:
  • Mon - Fri 10:00 - 15:00
  • Sat - Sun 10:00 - 16:30


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