Hollow Trees Farm, Suffolk | Shop, Trail, & Café All In One!

Prior to visiting Hollow Trees Farm in Semer, Suffolk, I spent a good hour or so with my Mum researching family-friendly farms in the area. We were struggling to find anything under £15pp until we came across this gem at only £4.95pp – not only is the place a farm trail but also contains a farm shop and a café!

As the price of Hollow Trees Farm is so much lower than other farms in the area you’d expect it to have less but this was certainly not the case – we were there for several hours and could easily have been there longer had we spent more time in the shop and with the animals. As it was the Easter holidays we also had an extra thing to take part in, which was the Easter egg trail! The (actually quite difficult) challenge consisted of finding a group of wooden egg doors hidden on the main farm trail, and then answering their slightly cryptic clues to fill in a puzzle. Once we’d completed the puzzle we got a free toy which was a nice touch.

The trail itself is a very good length – it’s long enough that there’s lots to see and do but contains plenty of rest breaks for those who might need to sit down and relax mid-way. The trail follows round the various animal enclosures and there are also mini parks dotted all of the place to give some more energetic entertainment whenever it’s needed. The variation is good and despite it being school holidays we weren’t really waiting to use any of it as there was so much to go around. I also loved how natural the place was, with large expanses of grass and hills for kids to run around have fun.

Obviously my favourite bit was the animals, and there was a great range at Hollow Trees Farm from your expected pigs and goats to smaller animals like guinea pigs and rabbits, and even some beautifully coloured birds! There were also alpacas which made my day. Feed can be bought from the entrance for a small price and there was plenty to go around – all of the animals apart from the pigs were able to be fed, and there were special chutes available to pour feed down for any animals that were slightly further away for whatever reason. The animals were all really friendly and clearly loved the attention – I also noticed how much space they had to roam and how happy they seemed, which is something very important to me when visiting animal experiences.

As well as the main trail you can also spend your time there in the farm shop, which sells a range of homegrown and local products, and a gift shop which I really liked as it was quite small and not full of overpriced pointless items like they often are. Instead it contained a small but satisfactory range of farm-related toys and Playmobil products and we ended up coming away with a bizarre blow-up pig that kept the stepdaughter amused for a long time.

There’s also a café on site which serves a good range of light food such as sandwiches and jacket potatoes. We didn’t actually eat here as we were looking to try out somewhere different but the café was quite busy and the food looked great from what I could see. Many families had opted to take picnics with them which is also an option – I felt there could have been more seating areas as many families were sitting on the ground and it took us a while to find a table for our snack break. On a lovely day a full picnic would be a great idea on the trail, and helps to make the day out even more budget-friendly.

My stepdaughter absolutely loved the time we spent there and so did the rest of the family – adults, teenagers, and children were all entertained! I would 100% go back there again – for such a great price it’s the perfect family day out.

If you enjoyed this review then please don’t forget to like, pin, and leave a comment! You can view some of my other family-friendly review locations in the UK here:

Southsea, Portsmouth | Three Cliffs Bay, Swansea