Hounslow Urban Farm

After the fun that we had last week in Kentish Town this Sunday I decided to cast around for somewhere new; a change of scenery if you like (though still a city farm - the kids were quite decided on that point). So I wound up looking through the extensive list held by the Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens (who knew?) and picked Hounslow Urban Farm on the basis of it being one of the largest around. Well that and the fact that they had alpacas and rheas - any animal with a name that's mostly vowels is cool in my book. So we headed off with high expectations (mostly for a cup of tea in Lenore's case) and arrived just after lunch - at which point Joshua and Christina made a bee-line for the toy-tractors:

Natural farmers!

Now I suppose that you might consider them ungrateful, given that you can find these tractors anywhere, but at least they're honest - and they were having a great time! In no time at all we had taken in just about all of the animals on show (literally since most of them you weren't meant to, or couldn't, touch) but then as luck would have it we stumbled across the bouncy castle. So they both scrambled aboard to burn off some energy while Lenore got sent off to secure refreshments (there being no cafe on site); I merely filled the role of press-photographer and sometime publicist! After a while though even sole ownership of the castle grew boring and the kids became more adventurous; deciding to take feeding into their own hands:

Shetland ponies at Hounslow Urban Farm

This worked out well until some caged rats decided to nibble on their fingers (not that the kids cared - they love animals that much). After this we restricted ourselves to the pig race (a real squeal?) before heading off to the wide open space of Hounslow Heath. Now we'd never been to this nature reserve previously but it looked interesting on Google Maps and besides the afternoon remained warm. What we hadn't realised is that the heathland is a magnet for reptiles in general and adders in particular - so there always remained some possibility of snake action as we wandered along the nature trail. As it happened though the wildlife restricted itself to four legs with a waggy tail; a perfect situation for Joshua and Christina as they absolutely adore dogs.

Hounslow Heath

So the heath was a big hit with everyone. It's pretty rough and ready to be sure, a long way from the manicured perfection of the Royal Parks, but it feels very natural (despite the constant stream of air traffic landing at Heathrow) and well suited to little boys with too much testosterone. The closest analogue that I can think of in North London is Epping Forest or maybe Enfield Chase; all are places where you might be less than surprised to come across a highwayman on a foggy night! Then again you might say the same thing about Highgate...