This is a great place to stop off on your way up to the Lake District if you have a young family. We’ve just come back from a brilliant day at Greenlands Farm. Situated about 5 minutes from Junction 35 on the M6 motorway, just before you reach the Kendal and Windermere turnoff at Junction 36.

The farm itself is small and it was easy to keep an eye on nine children (we were four adults though to be fair). There were pigs, several varieties of sheep (with their lambs), horses, chickens, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice …Bruno was so pleased to be given a bottle to feed the lambs with and Daisy got to hold a chick that was only a few days old. Later on the guinea pigs and rabbits came out to be held and stroked. There is also a big barn that has straw bales to sit on, a playground to play on and plenty of toy tractors to brum on. It reminded me of the good old days growing up on a farm in Eskdale (in the Lake District). We spent a long time here just sitting at the picnic benches and watching the children play, before setting out on a short walk through the fields to the duck pond to feed the ducks. There are also pony and trap rides and while we didn’t manage to fit this in, the kids still loved sitting on the trap without pony in the barn!

There is more to Greenlands Farm Village than just the farm. Wellies café serves good food and I was especially pleased with my pizza cooked in the wood burning pizza oven. We sat upstairs which meant that we didn’t need to worry about annoying other café guests with nine children all talking ten to the dozen (well those that can talk that is – what will we do when they can all speak?).

There is also a farm shop, a dangerous shop selling all sorts of brilliant toys for kids, a wine shop, a plant centre, The Loft (selling a range of products from different local businesses), Macmillan-Clare Designer Goldsmiths jewellery and a pottery shop (with workshops and drop in sessions). Add to that a soft play area and you may find that it takes you a lot longer to get to one of the many Lake District cottages in the area than you originally intended!

Greenlands Farm Village is just outside the Lake District and is about an hour’s drive from Eskdale or Keswick, To get to Wasdale from Greenlands Farm Village it is about an hour and a half. For Satnav users, use Burton Road, Carnforth to find Greenlands Farm.