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Sheldon Country Park

26 April 2009

Sheldon Country Park is a council run recreational area with a working demonstration farm called "Old Rectory Farm". The farm building was once the home of Reverend Dr Thomas Bray, the closest Sheldon has to a [18th century] famous person.

Picnic at Sheldon Country Park

There is a car park accessed from Ragley Drive. The car park can be very busy when there are football games being played (such as Sunday mornings).

There is a couple of public benches / seating areas within the farm area if you don't mind eating with the smell from the farm (it's not too unpleasant). There were some picnic benches at the far side of the fenced grazing area in front of the car park, but they are not maintained and are now unusable. There is shade around that area if you have a picnic blanket, which is what we did.

Poorly maintained picnic benches at Sheldon Country Park, West Midlands

Old Rectory Farm (within Sheldon Country Park)

The first thing to note about the Old Rectory Farm is that it is a demonstration farm rather than a Children' farm (most of the other farm reviews are on my baby and child pages are on children farms). This means there is no hands-on with the animals or any kind of interactive display. This is not a problem for a shorter visit, but it's not the same as going to most children farms.

Parking is free and it's free to go around the farm. There is a small playground area and on most nice weekends and there is a bouncy castle costing 60p per child. There is also a cafe with tables inside as well as a few picnic benches outside (but no shade for the outdoor tables).

During good weather the animals are outside, but there is an indoor barn area if the weather is bad. There are toilets including a disabled toilet with baby changing (radar key needs to be requested from one of the wardens).

Cows and horses at Old Rectory Farm, Sheldon Country Park

The outdoor paddock has sheep, cows and horses. The cows and horses are partial to a handful of fresh grass, so can be encouraged along to the fence to feed and stroke the animals.

Sheldon Country Park website

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