Follow Farmer Katie on her Girl-guiding Sleepover!
Hello Farmer Katie here, and one of my many hobbies is Girl-guiding. I have been a member since I was 8 years old, starting as a Brownie and now I am an Assistant Leader at my unit. At the farm we often have both guiding and scouting groups either visit for the day, or have a sleepover and I thought it was time to bring my lot! Our unit is a little different as we have Rainbows, Brownies and Guides all combined. Rainbows are only little and so they were invited to join us the day after the sleepover.
We stopped over on a Friday night. During that Friday I was working, after I had finished, I stayed at the farm to greet the Leaders, Guides and Brownies. We were sleeping in the tearooms so we used the camping trolleys to carry our things up the path. It seemed like some had packed for a week! Once all our bags were in, it was time for dinner. Catering Sarah was wonderful and stopped behind to make us all chip cobs, yum yum!
I was in charge of this trip, so I planned lots of fun activities for us to do. So after chip cobs we made a craft, did an animal quiz and even made some animal enrichment for the small animals that live in the barn. we saved the enrichment to hand out the next day. Once it was dark enough it was time to go on our torchlight walk! First we went to see Fiddich our Porcupine as he is one of our nocturnal animals. We were very happy to see him up and about, although he was a little confused to see us all peering in at him through the window… especially at that time of night. We then headed down to the Birds of Prey centre, to look at the owls. We learnt about how some owls are diurnal and some are nocturnal. After exploring, it was time for the best part about any sleepover, SMORES! We set up tea lights and roasted marshmallows outside the lunch barn, they were delicious. Before we headed back to the tea rooms, we went a little way up the field to look at the stars and constellations. Once we were back in the tearooms it was time for a hot chocolate before bed.
The next morning, I was on breakfast duty. Making sure all the girls and leaders were fed and ready for the day. once we ate and packed all our belongings away it was time to wait for the Rainbows to arrive. We had an early morning play in our new imaginative play zone, Miniville. Once the rainbows arrived it was time for me to start my guided tour of the farm for the group. We first headed to the Silver Barn to hand out our enrichment that we had previously made the night before. The rabbits and guinea pigs loved it! We then spent some time doing animal handling with our mice, rabbits and guinea pigs, and it was safe to say it was the perfect way to start any morning… fluffy cuddles! After exploring the rest of the Silver Barn, we headed over to the piglets and we learned that one of our Brownies keeps Oxford Sandy and Black pigs too, what a coincidence.
We headed out of the barn to start using our four-legged food on the goats and sheep that live around the field walk. Of course we had to make a stop by Goat Mountain first, to see the best goat, Gary. The girls loved hand feeding the animals, especially Olly the billy goat. After the field walk it was time for the best time of the day, LUNCH TIME! So we headed to the lunch barn to eat our packed lunches.
Straight after lunch it was time to meet some reptiles! I started with the oldest animal here at White Post Farm, George. George is a Mediterranean tortoise and he loves a gentle stroke on his shell, he is the oldest animal at the farm, so we love to get him out to impress! The group then got to meet Steve and Bruce our Rankins Dragons and I told them some interesting facts about them! It was then time to see who out of the group were the brave ones…. as it was time to get out one of our snakes. I decided to go for Enzo, one of our Royal Python’s, as he is super friendly and loves being handled. All of the group were extremely brave and they all gave it a go at having a hold, we had so much fun! I finished off the reptile-handling with one of our creepy-crawlies, the millipede, and then we headed up to the new reptile house. The girls absolutely loved seeing the crocodiles!
It was getting closer towards home time so it was time for some fun on the play area for the girls, and a nice hot drink for the adults! We headed to outdoor play area and had a great time before finishing the day with the Birds of Prey display. It was then time to get all our belongings and head home but not without going in the gift shop. Souvenirs obtained and parents were starting to arrive it was time to say goodbye to the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Leaders after an incredible trip to White Post Farm.
After being at the farm for a total of over 30 hours, Farmer Katie was in need of a nap!
