I’m lucky enough to still be very close with my childhood best friend and now Baby bear gets to be best friends with her little girl R. Each time we are down in Essex for long enough we always meet up to take the children out. This time we decided to take them Barleylands. We have been before and they loved it so we were excited for them.

best friends

Best Friends

When we arrived there was quite a queue to get in even though we prebooked our tickets online the night before. Once we had finally got in it didn’t seem that busy inside. The first thing Baby bear and R found was a statue of a cow that they could pretend to milk. R was better at it milking the cow than baby bear who just watched her.

milking the cow

Milking the cow.

We got them each a bag of animal food when we entered. As we walked round Baby bear and R loved feeding the goats, sheep, pigs, donkey, and chicken.

feeding the goats

Feeding the goats.

feeding a goat

Feeding a goat.

horse

Horse.

sheep

Sheep.

I love how many animals there are to see and interact with. Baby bear loved feeding and petting them all. He quickly used up all his animal feed. He spent time talking to all the animals and watching them do their own thing.

watching the alpaca

Watching the Alpaca.

After seeing all the animals Baby bear and R found an old tractor they could climb on and play. They had so much fun taking it in turns steering the tractor.

baby bear steering

Baby bear steering.

R steering

R steering.

Baby bear and R had fun exploring Barleylands Wildlife area. It was a cute little area where they could explore and look for insects and other little animals. Barleylands had placed mini pig statues and wooden animals around for the children to find. Baby bear and R even found a little box to sit on together.

petting the wooden snail

Petting the wooden snail.

besties together

Best friends sitting together.

After we had eaten lunch we headed back into the farm to keep playing. Baby bear and R decided they wanted to go and play in the indoor play area so that’s where we headed. It took Baby bear some convincing to go down the big slides but once he saw R go down and I gave him a little encouragement he loved it just as much as R.

giant slide

Giant Slide.

We then went on the tractor ride which Baby bear and R loved before we played on the diggers in the sand.

digger fun

Digger fun.

They were tired by now but wanted to play on the Bouncy Pillow before headed back to Aunt B to continue playing and spending time together.

bouncy pillow fun

Bouncy Pillow Fun.

When we got back to Aunt B’s house Baby bear and R played together like old times. While they were playing it gave me and Aunt B more time to catch up and just spend time together. We then decided to go out for dinner together like old times which was amazing to spend time with Aunt B, Uncle A, and R.

You don’t realize how much you miss spending time with friends until you spend time with them again. It sucks we don’t get to see them more but that’s the joy of living so far from family and friends.