Cantref Adventure Farm is a family-friendly activity centre with farm animals, an indoor play area, and horse/pony riding trips.
It is nestled in the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park, with fantastic views of the Black Mountains only 5 miles from Brecon. It is just under 1 hour’s drive from the Neath/Port Talbot/Swansea Bay area. We arrived just after opening at 10.30am and spent the whole day here.
It was a brilliant place to meet friends in the summer holidays on a dry day and there were lots of outdoor activities for the girls to try out. My girls are 5 and 8 and the activities on offer were age appropriate.
When you pay on entry which I thought was quite reasonable at £27 for 1 adult and 2 children, you are given a pink Cantref sticker to show that you have paid although no one did actually check.
You are also given a map of the farm and a programme of shows which run every half an hour plus hand washing guidelines. The only added extras are the Pony Rides for an additional £2 and £1 for water balloons at Water Wars.
I also took a photo of the blackboard on display of today’s programme.
We started off by going indoors to the Pet Handling Barn, the girls learnt some interesting facts about ferrets, rabbits and guinea pigs and the staff let each child smooth the animals.
In the pet barn there were several different breeds of rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, chinchillas, mice, rats, gerbils and turtles. Some of the cages could be updated as it was rather pet shop like.
The sinks are located outside of the building and staff were good at reminding the children to wash their hands.
We then enjoyed going to the theatre to the baby goat bottle feeding. The children learnt the reasons for hand rearing the goats and got to give the goats a bottle of formula feed.
Next to here is Badgers Quest, indoor pedal tractors driving circuit and Ball Cannons. There were also lots of other small animals in here too.
As it was a nice day we preferred to spend our time at the outdoor activities.
We had a look around the Kune Kune pigs and Animal Barn where there were horses, cows and goats. A little bit smelly!
The girls then spotted Mr Ev’s Mega Sledge Ride. This was a wet surface with sprinklers and my eldest daughter and her friend enjoyed getting a little wet and the fast speed that they flew down the hill.
My youngest daughter decided the super sledge ride was maybe a little bit fast for her and had felt more comfortable on the smaller Junior Sledge Ride which was not wet but could push herself down at her own speed.
We enjoyed the tractor and trailer ride. The tractor pulls you around a few fields in a trailer with a running commentary from the driver.
You will see the Welsh Cob horses, Shetland Ponies, Donkeys, Rare Breed Sheep, Cows, Llamas, Alpacas, Guanacos and Water Buffalo. The ride only lasts a few minutes but the girls enjoyed.
We stopped for lunch and enjoyed a toasted ciabatta and chips which was reasonably priced at around £5. We also enjoyed some freshly made Welsh cakes.
One of the most memorable activities of the day which we all could enjoy was the Swamp Ride. We all climbed into a little green boat with a paddle and tried to steer ourselves around a small swamp with the help of ropes above to pull yourself along.
We did get stuck a few times but managed to paddle our way around and had a lot of laughs orientating ourselves.
The girls enjoyed the Roald Dahl Maize Maze, hunting for the ten book titles hidden in the corn. It was fun for the children and the aerial view is of the BFG.
My daughter left the maze with a giant stick that she said was her walking stick.
There were lots of activities the girls enjoyed: the trampolines, Sand and Water Play area.
They can pump water with the water pump then divert the direction of the water on the play tables.
There were paddle boats, other outdoor slides and swings and we had our photo taken with Cantref the horse mascot. We stayed until the end of the day to watch the Pig Racing.
We had fun at Water Wars where the girls launched water balloons at each other from opposing battle stations. The water balloons were £1 for 5 balloons from a slot machine adjacent.
The girls had a quick play in the indoor soft play which is located at the entrance/exit. We did take some snacks with us and picnics are welcomed in the outdoor areas only.
We found the attraction could be better signposted and did get lost as depending on your navigation device it can take you on a different route. The tourist sign is a small horseshoe which can be easily missed.
I had looked at the website map before my visit and I did expect it to be bigger. Some areas were a little tired looking such as the entrance, cafe and toilets and could do with some investment and modernisation. The farm does require more toilet facilities at other areas of the park and from an adults point of view the quality of kids attractions could be better with a little investment.
There were lots of staff and they seem to alternate from different stations during the day. There is plenty of parking and there did seem to be a lot of people guided in the farm by the set timetable of planned activities. The morning activities were busier than the afternoon. We did not stick entirely to this as we wanted to let the children decide where they wanted to go next.
The highlights of the day were the sledge ride, swamp ride, paddle boats and the scenery. For what you would pay per ride at competitor attractions and you don’t have to queue, resulting in lots of participation and it was good value for money.
All children under 93cm are admitted into the Farm Park for free. There is a height line next to the reception desk so staff can check. Some of the rides are for children over 93cm. The park is geared for younger children and of primary school age.
I would recommend Cantref if you are visiting the Brecon Beacons and looking for a family attraction that is not a big commercialised theme park and is good value for money as you pay once and can stay all day. It was a good day out and from my children’s point of view they told me they would give it a 10 out of 10.