Willow Farm -- a country adventure

Last week a group of us (pictured above, minus me) took a little trip to a place called Willow Farm. It's an actual farm about 20 miles out of London, with horses, pigs, cows, sheep, ducks, etc. ... along with corn, pumpkins, hay, etc. Yes, those of you from "where I come from" are well aware of the makings of a farm. Apparently it's an item of great amusement for Londoners, who spend day after day in their urban city life.

Escaping to the country to see the animals is a popular thing to do, and it don't come cheap!! Adult tickets to Willow Farm are 9 pounds, 50 pence (sorry I can't find the pound sign. In US dollars, that's about $17.50 with the current exchange rate.) Kids get a discount rate of 5 pounds 50 pence (somewhere in the neighborhood of $9.50). Not cheap, as I was saying. Our visit cost a bit less, thanks to Stephanie, who has an annual pass with discount tickets. Oh, babies are free, thank goodness!

Well, with that price, we were determined to enjoy ourselves and soak up the full environment of THE FARM! We had a lot of fun, trapsing around picking our own pumpkins, getting filthy in the mud puddles, looking at the animals, petting them and even feeding some of them. Samantha especially liked the guinea pigs. I let her pet one, and she giggled and grinned, until I had to put him back because her "pats" on his head got a little bit too forceful for the poor little guy. (Aside, I think he looks a lot like Buddy the Second -- not to be confused with Buddy the First, who was sadly eaten buy our dog, Mesa.)


We got to ride in a wagon pulled by a great big green John Deer-looking tractor, called Tristan the Tractor. (A week later, Joyce's daughter, Abby, is still telling excitedly telling everyone "we rode on a green tractor!" cute.) Sammie spent most of her ride trying to climb OUT over the edge of the wagon, and I spent most of my time trying to keep her from doing just that.
Sam's favorite part was the kids' play section, where she finally got to roam free... there was a nice sandpit, some fences and little toy houses, and a great big vat of balls, as pictured. Yes, the vat of balls is an addition I don't remember being a part of the farm of my youth. I guess when they charge admission, they have little extra perks that ya just don't get on the REAL farm, eh?