Please take me to a farm, so I can feed the animals!

The mouths of babes can be very insistent and, after several weeks of asking, my two year old’s wish came true. It was a spur of the moment visit. The stars had aligned to make it all possible – sunshine, no school pick-ups, or rush to be back at any set time, my two year old, Alice, ready for a nap on the hour drive to the farm, from Wellington – up the Kapiti Coast – to Lindale Farm.

My six year old, and our neighbour’s daughter, Sasha, accompanied us on the trip.

Whilst my nine year old, Charlotte, was off on an adventure of her own – visiting a friend in Byron Bay, Australia (COOL!) – which is just as well, as she’s not so keen on farms.

Back on the farm on the Kapiti Coast, we arrived just in time to feed the lambs – which are fed twice a day at 11am and 2pm.

Alice delighted in feeding all the animals, making sure they all got an equal share of the feed and chasing after any animals that were acting a little aloof, saying, ‘Come back here! Come back here!’.

She also told the animals that were being a little bit greedy that, ‘Sorry, you’ve had your treats, I need to feed the other animals!’ (whilst hiding the feed bag behind her back).

Sophie and Sasha absolutely loved petting the rabbits and guinea pigs. Alice thought it was hilarious, saying ‘It tickles! It tickles!’ when a little guinea pig was placed on her lap.

We had a wonderful time, spending at least an hour or so in the farm. Alice loved the play area too – and the wishing well held a special attraction, even though there was no actual water or wishing – it’s amazing how much magic can be made in the eyes of a two year old with a bucket on string and some loose stones.

It was hard to pull her away from the wishing well and all the animals. I reminded her of a broken down little wishing well planter box in our garden at home – which helped ease the withdrawal from wonderful lovely Lindale (in fact we spent the very next day painting up our mini wishing well in rainbow colours!).

We finally made our way home (after stopping at the candy shop, the honey shop and the wonderful tea shop at Lindale… where I stocked up big time on tea and all the girls enjoyed a marvelous demonstration and tasting session).

With no deadline (other than the setting sun and bedtimes) we stopped off at Paraparaumu Beach for a run on the beach on the stunning Kapiti Coast.

With daylight saving having just kicked in it felt amazing to enjoy the extended daylight, the increased warmth of the sun, and the warmer temperature of the sea up the coast from Wellington (which is pretty frigid all year round!). The girls ran in and out the water (Alice stripping off completely!) and would have stayed till the moon was high in the sky, if it wasn’t for my insistence that we really should head home. I have to say – if it wasn’t for us having to move to San Francisco next year – I’d be highly tempted to get a little place up the coast for weekend’s away. There’s a special magic on that Kapiti Coast, with its west coast sunsets, and the beauty of Kapiti Island nature reserve.