Sharing is caring!

Another review by one of our regular contributors Emily who visited Broom House with her family.

Our mission: Find a fun, inexpensive day out for a group including two hard-to-please dads, a heavily pregnant mum, a mum with a new baby and five kids aged from 3 to 13. Tough one!

The answer: Broom House Farm and their Forest Adventure http://www.broomhousedurham.co.uk/fun-days-out

When we get together with my sister and her brood, it’s always tough to find activities that suit all of the kids.  And even tougher to find stuff that the grown-ups will enjoy too but we definitely succeeded with that at Broom House Farm.

We started by going around the Forest Adventure.

We weren’t really sure what to expect, but it was a great mix of climbing, zip wires, woodland walk and a competitive game or two that kept the dads amused for ages!

The terrain wasn’t the easiest to manoeuvre a pushchair around, so I’d recommend using a good baby carrier if you have one. It certainly wasn’t impossible though and I found it wasn’t too far to walk around for myself (the pregnant one) and the younger kids. By the end, it was getting a bit cold, even for the Northern half of the family so we’ve promised we will go back and spend longer in there in the Summer!

 

The small coffee shop at the farm was the perfect place to go and warm up though. A good range of meals and hot and cold drinks, it was slightly on the pricey side but when the food arrived you could see why. The ingredients were obviously fresh and good quality. Most (if not all?) of the meat comes direct from the farm itself. I ordered a toastie thinking it would be a light bite but the bread was beautifully thick and freshly cut so I ended up feeling like I’d had a main meal. There is a small play area inside the cafe which the littler kids enjoyed while we finished our hot drinks and then all of the kids headed to the grassy play area outside the cafe, which is visible from the table so we could easily keep an eye on them while staying warm ourselves – top points for that one Broom House!

 

We finished off by looking around the farm itself. There aren’t loads of animals, but entry to this part of the farm and the play area is free (you only pay for the extra activities like the forest adventure), it’s worth a trip with younger kids even without doing the extras.

They have a picnic area available too, which we will probably make use of in the summer.