Venue:

Hatton Country World

Where:

Off the A4177 near Warwick

What’s on offer:

Hatton Farm Village: The village has a collection of animals including donkeys, goats and pigs, a guinea pig village, children’s shows, funfair and pony rides, summer sports day races, sheep and goat racing, falconry displays and pan-for-gold fun.

Hatton Shopping Village: Twenty speciality shops selling products including, gifts, candles and jewellery, plus an antiques and interiors centre, a family gardening centre with plants, gardening equipment and expert advice, a restaurant and cafe.

The Waterman Pub and Restaurant nearby on the Grand Union Canal.

How to get there:

From Worcester, take the M5 north, joining the M42, then the M40, leaving it at junction 15 to take the A46 towards Coventry and leaving that at the first exit, turning left on to the A4177 to follow the brown signs for Hatton Country World.

Opening times:

Hatton Farm Village is open from 10am to 5pm every day except Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It closes at 4pm during the winter. Hatton Shopping Village operates seven days a week, runs food and craft fayres, late-night Christmas shopping until 8pm on December 3 and December 10 and festive shopping weekends at the end of November and December.

Prices:

Adults and children over two years - Weekdays in term time – September 6th-October 22nd: £7.50. Weekends, September 11th-October 17: £10.45. Children under two years of age admitted free. Annual pass (2010): £47. Family (up to five people including a child: £149. Group visits: email hattonworld.com/farm village/visitor information/ for details. Birthday parties: £12.50 per child; under 2 years/members: £8.25; Extra adults: £3.95. Parking is free for both cars and coaches.

Review:

Hatton Country World is a unique attraction, blending a wide variety of activities and rides for children, with animals to be fed, falconry displays to be admired, sheep and goat races to cheer, children’s shows including Punch and Judy, ventriloquism and discos to entertain, ponies to be ridden, tractor rides to be taken, races to be run and picnic areas to be retreated to for a refreshing break. Cross a village fete with a fairground, a farmyard and a programme of entertainment and you get some idea of the wide range of attractions to be savoured.

Throw in the shopping village and a handy pub and restaurant just down the road close to Hatton locks on the Grand Union Canal and the choice of activity is extensive. As if this was not enough there are plans to open a huge new indoor soft play area during the winter of 2010-2011.

Parking is free, the staff friendly and helpful and Hatton Farm Village runs a series of special events throughout the year, including lambing in February, an Easter egg hunt, sheep shearing, a summer spectacular, a pumpkin week in October and Santa’s grotto and children’s shows at Christmas. You could pay a lot more for a lot less fun elsewhere.