Boydells Farm Zoos

Boydells Dairy Farm is a small working farm, run by the Threadgold family consisting of Roy and Cherry, with son Kiley in partnership. The farm is open to the public and specialises in sheep milking. Set in the beautiful North Essex countryside only an hour's drive from central London, it provides a fun-packed and educational visit for children and adults alike.

Coming up fast to our Easter opening with loads of lambs and around 150 ewes milking.Our Jersey cow, Zamora had a calf in February - a beautiful and very lively little bull.

We welcomed a great many people to the farm last year. Very special to us are the children from the Chernoble area, pictured here on our "Esperanto Bridge"

Our public opening this year starts on Saturday 3rd April. We already have loads of lambs, and plenty more to come, so there will be plenty for our visitors to see.

Most of the usual farm animals are to be found here, but, unlike other open farms, we give you a guided tour with lots of hands-on stuff. Try your hand at milking a cow, feeding hens, riding a goat cart (children only!) or outstaring a llama. But the chief part of your visit will be the sheep milking which takes place in a modern "rapid exit" parlour, milking batches of18 ewes at a time.

The farm covers 42 hectares (105 acres in real money) all of which is used to produce food for the animals, mainly in the form of grass although about 8 acres of maize are grown for making into silage. Some of the grass is made into hay.

The 400 milking ewes and their offspring constitute the bulk of our livestock, but we also have cattle, goats, pigs and poultry, plus pony, donkey and llama. In the summer we also bring some bees into a demonstration hive so you can watch them at work.

Teachers are more than welcome to visit us in advance to discuss particular requirements, and we can tailor your class visit accordingly.