Cost of farms/adventure attractions

[Vergus]

I wanted to take my two kids to a local farm-type place this Feb half term. It looks great - lots of climbing towers, meet and greet the animals, sandpits, construction areas etc etc. For three of us it totalled £57.95. That's just over half the cost of my weekly food shop for the family. I wondered if it was just that particular place - looked at 3 others within reasonable driving distance to get cost averages. All the same - ranged from £55 - £60 for the day, for 3 of us. Not including food of course - presumably if we ate there (we wouldn't, we'd take sandwiches,) you'd be looking at another £20 - £25 easily for food, drinks, ice-creams and snacks. So you could be looking at £85 for a day at the farm for 3 people. That's insane.

We are not badly off, but we're also not well off. We're an average earning family (joint income of £86,000) before tax, bills, food etc. So I could afford it if I really really felt the need. But common sense just kicked in and I decided not to do it.

We'll go to our local park instead if it's nice and sunny. I get everything has risen in cost, and these places have to keep business-viable. I also get that some people can afford this kind of thing comfortably. But £85 for a day out is....................nuts.

AIBU?

£60 for three to visit an attraction with animals, meet and greets, play areas, sandpits etc doesn't seem terrible to me. They've got overheads to pay, animals to look after and lots of costs. Attractions can't have great facilities without paying for them from ticket prices!

Your household income places you in the top 25% so above average

It feels a crazy price but then they have to pay to maintain all the things that make it so great!

We have similar places near us and honestly it makes it much cheaper to go for family memberships for a year, stick to just visiting that place for farm-type days out, and then switch to a different place the following year. Either that or only buying the tickets when there's a sale on for future dates.

I don't think I'd ever pay full price day tickets for an attraction like that (and we do quite a few day trips!)

I agree with you. You can’t get a day out these days for under £80. Even 1 hour at a trampoline park costs about £50 when you factor in buying drinks because you’re not allowed to take your own in. Results is we rarely go anywhere which is sad

I don't think that's too badly priced to be honest. And if it's close by you could probably get annual passes which are often better value. Lots of places are priced in that sort of bracket, but I have to say it was always the farm places that my kids loved the most and usually enough to occupy them for a full day

I do t think it's that bad tbh.

When you think about everything on offer, it’s not an unreasonable price, but it is a “big day out”. I wouldn’t bother in half term when it’s cold, I’d save it for a sunny warm day when we could enjoy the entire day!

At this time of year, days out would be goIng to the local swimming pool and library, welly-walk in the woods nearby, cycle round the park

Then it would be play-dates, Lego and toys, craft activities or baking, reading, cartoons on tv.

When I was a kid there were hardly any of these “big day out” kid’s entertainments, the reason being it was too expensive. I reckon things will circle back to more homely entertainment as people realise it’s not great value for money.

Animals cost a fortune to keep, and everything associated with keeping them - feed, bedding, veterinary care, insurance, utilities, staff pay - has rocketed in recent years. It’s an expensive day out, yes, but places can’t operate at a loss.

Joint annual income £240k/year here. There is no way we’d pay £60 for 3 people for a farm. Who would? Some people are mad. Head out to the country, go for a walk and see farm animals. Costs nothing.

Why are you comparing a farm visit to a weekly food shop? It’s not really comparable.

In the summer we went to one of these places, £70+ for 4 of us and we have another kid who travelled with grandparents so they paid for him as arrived at different time 😁 it is suuuuper expensive but you could easily pay £30 for soft play alone so £70 for soft play, farm, loads of rides and experiences doesn’t feel that bad.

Another example, me and 2 of the kids went to cinema last week. £22 for tickets, then snacks on top. Farm starting to sound like good value!

All the same - ranged from £55 - £60 for the day, for 3 of us ... joint income of £86,000

Divide £86,000 by 52 weeks and 40 hours. Between you, you gross over £40 an hour. Compared to that, £20 per person for a whole day's entertainment doesn't sound so bad.
The problem is the age-old family thing: £20 is not a lot but £20 times many-people is!

Yes this amount is pretty standard.
You are lucky enough to be on a high income.

We tend to get a membership to certain places and then make the most of that for the year. Even more expensive upfront (as can't pay monthly for some attractions) but works out cheaper in the long run.

Think about how your own bills have gone up at home and then magnify that for a venue - electricity, water, gas and with the increase to minimum wage then they do have to try and cover these costs and make a profit.
A few places near where I live have closed because they have not been able to do this. I think if you want these places to exist then you need to support them if you can.

There's an animal sanctuary near us - free - that we go to for similar reasons. Different days have different animals, depends what animals they have recently rescued / are rehabilitating, and they do feed and pet the animals, meet n greet with their long stay animals etc. They have some hay bales and a recently installed play area and a little tea shop. It's great!

We go multiple times a year because there's always different animals there as well as their long stay ones. And it's free. We always have a cuppa and a piece of cake in the tiny tearoom and make a donation though.

Anything like that near you @Vergus ?

My dc are teens now, but I have just checked the prices for our local "destination" farm park. It's £14/head for over 2s, so similar price to what you are looking at @Vergus . You do get a lot for your money though, although parking is extra.

We also have a farm which the public can visit which is part of a local college. It's less shiny, no soft play, no ferret racing or sheep derby and the cafe is a lot more basic but- it's £2 during the week and £3.50 at weekends and parking is free.

I don’t think that’s too expensive really for a full day out for a family? Our 2 main local ones for 3 would be £47 or £38, for that price you get to feed the animals, lamb feeding by bottle, access to their soft play, park, tractor ride, so you do get a lot for your money I’d say.

Considering we went bowling last week and for the 3 of us it was £39, which lasted really about 90 mins, I don’t think your price for a full day is too bad.

Agree with others that it’s worth seeing if there is an annual membership option, we’ve done that for our local aquarium because it is £17 for a single adult admission or £50 for an annual pass, we’ll easily go 3 times in a year so it’s cheaper.

Where I live it would be more like £25-£30, but it's a cheaper part of the country, and the places that do this type of thing are also big working farms for which the kids' stuff is a small part of the overall operation. The ones that mainly focus on kids have struggled in the last few years and some have closed down. I think it's because you can only really run at capacity in the school holidays, and the rest of the time you still need to maintain the animals and facilities.

Farm costs will also have to increase public liability insurance which has, like all insurance costs, gone through the roof. They will also have to add in all sorts of over the top health and safety stuff which costs loads to implement.

Completey agree OP. I don't think they're worth it. DS and I have just as much fun, probably more because I hate people, going for a walk and picnic in the forest/countryside. Find a river or a stream and he's happy for hours.

I am considering a family Snowdon trip. There's a zip line there. £100 a pop. We would be spending the best part of a grand on zip line. No thanks. Just gonna have a hike up the mountain instead.

These sort of things are big days out. It sounds like you could spend all day there as there is a lot to do so for a full day it doesn’t seem too bad a price.
There will be farms that are cheaper to visit but they won’t offer all the extras.

If you dislike large numbers of people, give snowdon a miss

Thank you! Very good point. We will do a different one

I think it’s pretty good value tbh!
I’ve just transferred dd the price of tickets for taking her and ds to the trampoline park - £30
for ONE HOUR!
Poor value for money in terms of time (makes the cinema look reasonable as it’s about £20 for the 2 of them but about an hour and a half!) but good value in that they will be knackered.