Amelia Trust Farm

Amelia Trust Farm is a registered charity located in the Vale of Glamorgan, between Cardiff and Barry. It’s a community project which offers volunteering and educational programs to young people who are struggling as well as those who have learning disabilities or are disadvantaged. It’s open to the public all year around with a very small entry fee, allowing families a chance to see the animals and take part in all sorts of activities. I wanted to write a little bit about the farm for those who are living in, or visiting South Wales, to share what an amazing job they do and how important it is that small charities like this continue to get the funding and support they need to help the local community.

As a family we headed to Amelia Trust farm for their spring half-term festival. Unfortunately it was rather wet, but we’re not the type of people to let that stop us, so we bundled the two year old up in full waterproofs and wellies. It started at 10am, and by 10:30am the car park was filling up and it was obvious no one was going to let a bit of rain stop them having a good day out!

Entry fees as of May 2019 are £2 adults, £1.50 children over 2 and under 2s free. A family ticket is £5 which allows up to 2 adults and 3 children, so excellent value for larger families. If you plan on visiting regularly, you can pay £5 a month for unlimited family visits. Sometimes you’ll find the reception desk is not manned because during term time it’s very quiet here and everyone is busy, so there’s an honesty box for these situations.

As soon as you enter you’re in the kids playground, which has a climbing frame, slide and swings – a great way to burn off some energy after being in the car.

We walked around the animal fields and our two year old got to see the donkeys, sheep, al pacas, pigs, goats, geese, ducks, chickens and turkeys. He absolutely loves the male turkey who is very confident, ruffles up his feathers and didn’t seem that impressed in return!

There’s an undercover small animals section which is ideal for all weather, which has rabbits, guinea pigs, birds and so on.

There’s a sport’s hall which is available for children’s parties and activities and events, and as the spring festival was on there was a bouncy castle in here as well as local craft stalls and a tombola. We had a go on the tombola and paid for a lucky dip prize (which was a Disney sticker book which we’ll have lots of fun doing later!). There were also various stalls dotted around outside with local food for the spring fair, although we didn’t try anything as the weather was just too rubbish to sit outside and enjoy it.

There are also various trail walks and woodland to explore, so plenty to do. There are regular events like the spring festival, which in addition to the local crafts and food stalls, had various competitions, events, tractor rides and animals talks.

There are toilet facilities and a small cafe serving food, which has free wifi so you can make it a half day or all day visit – or just nip in for a quick hour of fresh air. We bought half dozen eggs on our way out and I love having scrambled egg for lunch when you’ve just seen the hens and know how fresh they are!

The farm is described as an outdoor classroom and I think it’s so important that children are getting outside, doing activities, interacting with animals and nature and learning. When I found out about the farm, I was just so happy that charitable organizations like this exist that not only provide somewhere for local families to visit, but do such amazing work with disadvantaged and vulnerable people – people who haven’t been as lucky as me and my family.

Although the weather put a bit of a kink in our fun, we still had a great few hours out here – and at only £5 for the family it was not only excellent value, but for a very good cause.

You can visit the farm every day except for Christmas Day, or check out their events page for details of special events.