Our Story

In 2008, Mini Meadows Farm was just an empty field for what began as a small business selling rare breed chickens. Over time, more animals made Mini Meadows Farm their home and more buildings went up.

For owner Ben Barraclough, it soon became an exciting journey to transform that field into his vision of an affordable farm experience for everyone; the Mini Meadows Farm you know and love today.

  • 2009

    It all started with breeding chickens.

  • 2010

    Some of our first cows getting settled.

  • 2011

    Some of our first sheep at the farm.

  • 2012

    The first buildings to go up.

  • 2013

    The first shop (which is now the baby barn!).

  • 2014

    Foundations for the cafe and main building.

  • 2015

    Heating goes in for new main building.

  • 2016

    Getting the cafe ready to open.

  • 2017

    We open the new indoor play area, The Treetops.

  • 2018

    Time to relax for five mins at the pond.

  • 2019

    Our first big Easter event.

  • 2020

    Getting ready for our Christmas Experience.

  • 2021

    Building more rabbit pens.

Our Mission

Mini Meadows Farm is dedicated to providing an affordable farm experience that is ethical, educative, enthralling and entertaining for children and adults alike.

We recognise the positive impact a farm visit and meeting animals can have – transforming pictures seen in books into a living experience, building confidence, and providing simple good fun. We are committed to making this rewarding experience accessible to everyone.

With the help and support of our visitors, Mini Meadows Farm has grown from just a field in 2008, into a place where new experiences are enjoyed, special memories are made and everyone is welcome, every day of the year.

Our animals and our visitors are at the heart of everything we do and we strongly believe that Mini Meadows Farm is not just our farm; it’s your farm too.

Environment

Caring for the environment is very important to us at Mini Meadows Farm, which is why as part of the farm’s development we planted 500 trees, including Oaks and Scots Pines, in small drifts to encourage wildlife. We also created two large ponds and planted them with 1000 native water plants, which now provide an ideal habitat for fish, frogs, dragonflies, newts, grass snakes and voles.

The heating and hot water for all of our barns is via environmentally friendly air source heat pumps, and we don’t use chemicals or fertilisers on any of the farm. We also installed a reed bed system to break down the effluent. And of course, we recycle as much as possible.

Community

We strongly believe that Mini Meadows Farm is our visitors’ farm. Everything we do is for our animals and visitors, and the local community plays a huge role in that. Mini Meadows Farm has great links with several local schools for the disabled and children with special needs, such as autism, who visit weekly. We also work closely with several local care homes to provide rewarding experiences for the elderly.

We are also very pleased to be able to support local charities and fundraise whenever possible. At Mini Meadows Farm, we live local and work local. The majority of our team live in the local village and we also support the local economy by encouraging business for accommodation providers, employing local tradesmen, and we source all of the produce for the café locally.