Farm experience holidays

Our morning farmstay experience: "Melanie's farm"

We have such fun on the farm and try to offer a real Cornish farm holiday experience, suitable for guests of any age. For safety, note that all children must be accompanied by their parents, although often the adults look forward to it just as much as their children.
All are welcome to help with the animal feeding and petting that usually starts at 8.30am Monday to Thursday inclusive.

It's a special and memorable experience for most, and we are told that even our youngest of guests remember and talk about "Melanie's farm", for months after their holiday has finished. We feel really privileged to be able to create such wonderful holiday memories.

Our 'animals' are a real favourite with guests of all ages. We like to keep a few of many different sorts, but some are more seasonal than others. To see our free range Aylesbury ducks wandering past your cottage door is one of the delights of staying here. We currently keep poultry, ducks, and kune kune pigs, a pygmy goat and Shetland pony. Plus a small number of Dexter cattle and an ever growing number of "tame" sheep. And don't forget the turkey, who many guests find fascinating. We also keep guinea pigs to pet. At certain times of year, and subject to nature (!) we have chicks to hold and lambs to bottle feed, or walk around the paddock.

Our poultry and ducks

We have a number of free range hens which lay eggs during the summer months. Our white 'Jemina Puddleduck' Aylesburys are very popular with everybody. See if you can take a photo of them all in a row. They waddle along in a comical fashion, tending to follow the leader, usually Harry, our drake with the curly tail who keeps his wives well 'in line'. The ducklings are so cute - they start off as yellow balls of fluff and you can see how they have grown day by day.

We also keep a number of Muscovy ducks. They can become incredibly tame and we usually have a particularly tame one that will eat out of your hand.

The boys are large and cannot fly well, the girls are smaller and lighter and can fly a bit more. However, they are not very good fliers and sometimes only just make the top of the fence! Their ducklings are black and yellow and are even cuter than the Aylesburys.

We have one male turkey, who is much admired and photographed as he can display his tail feathers in a beautiful peacock-like way and has even been accused of being a peacock!!

When we have eggs available, over the summer months, we do try to hatch ducks or chickens for our guests to enjoy. It is amazing to see how quickly they can grow, even during the course of a week.

Our Shetland Pony

Our Shetland pony Snowflake enjoys being groomed and led around the paddock.

Our Pigs

In the summer we often keep a couple of pigs, their antics are always very popular and they usually run over to the fence when they see you. They love a treat of banana skins or vegetable peelings. We do find that being able to feed the pigs the scraps does encourage children to eat more fruit and veg! We currently have kune kune pet pigs. They are supposed to be grass eaters, but sometimes they are guilty of digging too. We let them free range our fields in the summer, but confine them over winter when they are most likely to dig.

Our Pygmy Goat

We have a mischievous pedigree pygmy goat called Badger. He will nibble most things, and is an excellent escape artists and capable of hurdling very high fences if so inclined. He loves eating pieces of carrot from your hand.

Our Guinea Pigs

The real stars of the show are often the guinea pigs, who so enjoy to be petted in the mornings and love nibbling carrot, melon and cucumber. There seems to be something relaxing about holding a guinea pig, they are such gentle creatures.

Our lambs

We have a small flock of mixed breed sheep who lamb in March and April. Many are halter trained so they can be walked around the paddock and along the lane. We are pivilaged to be able to walk them down Falmouth high street each year as part of the 'Falmouth Live Nativity'. They have a special licence for this.