Go lambing!

Countryside deputy editor Lorna Maybery meets a family offering lambing experiences in Lincolnshire and recommends 10 other locations to enjoy this ritual of spring.

The Elnor family has not been afraid to diversify on their farm, and, following a successful move into holiday accommodation, they are embarking on a new business venture – lambing experiences.

Steve Elnor’s family have owned Mill Farm at Barkstone, Lincolnshire, since the 1930s and it was predominantly a dairy enterprise until recently. Now Steve, and wife Fiona, who works as a vet, run the farm as a mixed enterprise with sheep, beef cattle and some arable crops plus a holiday site for the Caravan Club and holiday cabins which they run as a franchise through Wigwam.

Steve explains: “We will start at 9am and meet in the games room next to the cabins and run through an introduction. Then we’ll go and see if anything is lambing. We obviously can’t actually promise they will see a lamb born, but there will be lambs for people to see and get hands-on with.

“People can get involved in bedding down, feeding, moving the sheep around and bottle-feeding lambs, especially for the children. They can help to move them from the pens and into the fields. It’s so lovely to see the lambs go out on the grass for the first time and skip and jump about. The morning will also be led by what people want and the questions they ask.”

The first part of the day ends with a lovely two-course lunch made and delivered by the village pub, The Stag, a popular watering-hole for visitors to the farm’s cabins, which has a great reputation for its food.

“Because we know how many of our visitors go to the pub to eat, we thought it might be nice for them to bring a meal up to the cabins for lunch as part of the day,” says Steve.

Steve hopes that visitors will remember their experience for a long time to come.

“British farmers want nothing more than to show people just how well they care for their animals, what goes into raising them for food, and why it’s so important to buy British and support local. Here in Lincolnshire, we are at the heart of rural food production.

“I hope that visitors will go away having had a once-in-a-lifetime experience witnessing lambs being born, but also with a changed attitude towards British farming.”

Find a lambing experience near you