Discover more about Tatton Park
Tatton Park is cared for by Cheshire East Council on behalf of the National Trust. Find out more about Tatton Park and its exhibitions.
Things to do on Tatton Park's farm
Get a taste of 1930s rural life on the farm at Tatton Park. Learn about traditional farming practices and techniques in the Field to Fork exhibition and meet the traditional and endangered species of farm animals. Bring young imaginations to life with the woodland play and den building area, seasonal storytelling sessions and children’s trails.
Meet the animals
In its heyday, Tatton Park’s Farm fed the whole of the Tatton estate. Today this large heritage working farm offers much more than a typical animal petting farm. Get up close and personal to unusual breeds like Clydesdale horses, red poll cattle and middle white pigs to name a few.
Tatton Park has been awarded Rare Breeds Accreditation by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, making it one of only a small number of farm parks in the UK to receive the award. This recognises Tatton’s commitment to the conservation, breeding and promotion of rare and endangered breeds of farm animals.
Seasonal highlights
- Feeding the lambs
- Sheep shearing
- Hand milking
- Walking the pigs out to the fields
- Holding newly hatched chicks and ducklings in the hatchery
- Meeting new-born calves and foals
Experience the Field to Fork exhibition
Discover where the food we eat comes from in the Field to Fork exhibition. This intriguing story is told through the words of real characters who lived and worked at the farm in the past. Meet Aunt Mary making butter in the caretaker’s cottage and the formidable Mr Wigglesworth in the land agent’s office.
You'll get a fascinating insight into how farming practices have developed over the centuries to bring us the food on our plates today. Videos, soundscapes, interactive models and the knowledgeable team all bring this unique story to life.
Thanks to investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2018, the Field to Fork story has opened up more areas of the farm for you to visit:
- Explore the impressive 18th-century mill. Find out more on a guided tour and watch the historic machinery in action.
- Meet farm workers from the past and present, like Aunt Mary making butter in the 1930s caretaker’s cottage.
- Watch demonstrations of traditional farming skills such as milking and hedge laying.
- Discover the original slaughterhouse. Learn how slaughter was carried out in the past and about good animal husbandry today. This part of the experience is optional.
Have family fun on the farm
Tatton Park is a great family day out and the farm is the perfect place for the kids to burn off some energy and let their imaginations run wild. Be sure to:
- Visit the indoor play barn with pedal tractors and trailers
- Join a storytelling session
- Explore the woodland play trail
- Build a den in the den-building zone
- Find the route around the seasonal Maize Maze
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