Lamb Feeding

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to bottle feed cute, ickle, floofy lambs. A bucket list dream if you like. Every year I seem to remember just after lambing season and every year I say next year is the year.

Well just like the decade before, I was reminded a little late this year. Spring was in full swing before I hopped online to check out the local farms lambing schedules. Turns out most of the cute little fluff bundles arrive quite early - the very start of spring. That was until I came across Church Farm in Ardeley .

Their sheep were lambing at the time of me searching, with more expected soon. The website is great and I spent a good 30mins on live chat talking to a lovely lady about the lambs. You see at Church farm, they've had quite a few triplets that the mummies struggle to feed. The farmers hand feed these little fluffle nuggets until they are old enough to head into the fields.

All booked up and ready to finally follow through on this dream, we arrived at Church farm on a warm but grey day - nothing shocking for a british bank holiday weekend! Nonetheless, excited to see what was in store.

Church farm covers a huge area, with lots to see and do - they even offer camping! They have a lovely farm shop selling their produce and it's here you check in for the lamb feeding.

Once checked in we headed over to the pen to meet them.

Look at them! My heart melted instantly.

And they knew exactly why we were there. Waiting ready, trying to break out and steal the milk! We set up the GoPro to catch them in the act - read on to the video to see the ultimate cuteness.

One by one we all got a couple of bottles each as each little lamb was introduced to our enclosure. All with their own personality and cheekiness. Mr B loved it clearly.

I was immediately in love. Forceful little buggars, and my word do they drink fast!

Induced into a milk daze, the lambs hung around to be stroked. They loved it!

I mean look at that face! You know that feeling you get when someone strokes your hair, I think this must be better.

They were so soft.

Sneaky little things. They took to investigating and chewing on everything.

"WHAT ARE THESE STRANGE FEETS CONTRAPTIONS?"

"WHY DON'T I HAZ DEMZ?"

Look how happy he is. You get a great amount of 'cuddle time' with the lambs, I think we were in there an hour in total. So much longer than I imagined.

The lambs ranged from just over a week old to 4+ weeks. The sizes didn't necessarily signify age as there were various breeds. A couple of little black ones stood out a mile. All of their coats felt different to each other.

This guy took to nibbling on my fingers.

Some of these poor little orphans hadn't quite got to grips with bottle feeding yet. Mistakenly heading under belly of their friends - not sure he'll find what he was looking for under this fella!

Do you think I could sneak one out and it could stay this small forever?

Having finally separated myself from these gorgeous animals, we begrudgingly wandered off on a farm trail to explore.

Something worth noting about Church Farm, it isn't just your average kiddy farm with a few animals for kids to see. It is a FULL working farm. Possibly the biggest I've ever been to in fact. There were so many animals, and workers and grounds filled with produce. It was great and I must say, whilst the day was very reasonable, I felt great knowing any money spent went to something seemingly 'proper' and not some crazy, money making tourist attraction. The staff here are passionate, our guide was an agricultural student from Germany on her placement year.

We came across the Pigsty.

These guys are monstrously huge. Is it bad that all I could think was 'That is a shed load of bacon right there!'

And they had little piggies too. Ickle chipolatas <3

So many babies and one hell of a set of sore looking boobies haha!

Mr Pig was clearly making an effort with the children.

And just like that, As happy as a pig in shit-ake mushrooms...we came across this fella. Disgusting but hilarious, totally in his element. If it makes him happy, it can't be that bad right?

As we strolled on through, we passed many animals. A goat that appeared not to enjoy standing on grass.

A bunny in a tyre.

A cute little kid - Spring is the best!

And lots of baby chicks! The noise was unbelievable. All keeping warm on top of each other under the heat lamps.

It was so funny to watch them line up and feed from their tiny little feeders. It's hard to get the scale but it was like a tiny model village.

Having had our fill of farm life and more importantly, steps. We've walked a lot recently! We followed our noses and tums to the cafe.

Nothing says farm life like a wipeable chicken tablecloth.

A well earned cappuccino to soothe the aching bones.

Thrilled with our day and wonderful experiences, we headed home to a 5 mile walk for a takeaway - but that's another story!

Our little sheep in tow, we cruised down the motorway and into a 4 day bank holiday weekend wrapped in springtime delights.

Our memories shaped with wooly cuddles and naughty chuckles, come join us in a quick video - Until next time! There will definately be a next time <3

- MTWP xxx