Wednesday, 26 September 2007
The Big Sheep
This is the second of my Devon Attractions series, and this time, I am writing about somewhere I've been to fairly recently:
This summer, some friends visited and took me to the Big Sheep. I admit, I was expecting the experience to be really tacky and boring, but I could not have been more wrong!
The Big Sheep is an all weather family attraction near Bideford in North Devon. I did not know very much about it before we went, other than that it was about sheep. My friend's insistence that it would be "a good laugh" also made me somewhat nervous...:S
We arrived just in time to catch the duck trials that morning. This involves a dog herding ducks around a small paddock. As bizarre as this sounds, it was actually amusing to see, and the kids around seemed to highly enjoy it. Even us three twenty-somethings were watching eagerly to see if the ducks would do as they were told - they did, eventually.
The next show was the lamb feeding, so we went to see that. What happens is this: first, one of the shepherds explains what the system is, how to hold the bottle, and what to do if things don't go smoothly; then all the children (and some adults) go to the front, and milk bottles for the lambs are distributed; finally the lambs are let out and all mayhem breaks loose! It was incredible! And, amazingly, all the lambs were fed and all the kids were happy!
The next show was for the adults: it was all about beer! The Big Sheep has its own brewery, and the show explains their reasons for this, as well as how they brew the beer. It was very enlightening, fun talk, and certainly whetted our appetites!
We grabbed a bite to eat in the restaurant after this, and then headed over to the brewery to try its wares. Mmm...:) If you like your beer, a visit to the Big Sheep is a must next time you're in Devon! Several of their beers have won awards at various Beer Festivals, and rightly so! The ABV ranged from about 3.7% to a whopping 10%!! Plus, there was some lovely cider to try and buy, too.
The next show was a a demonstration of sheep shearing. One shepherd explained what was going on while another expertly sheared the sheep - this was much more entertaining than I expected, and also really interesting.
Afterwards, we saw a Sheep Show, where the sheep came out one at a time to introduce themselves and make their way to the right place on the stage. Each sheep had its own personality - there was a greedy one, a moody one, a 'musical' one, one that kept waving, and even one who looked a bit like Bob Marley! My two Scottish friends were somewhat afraid to venture too close to the Scottish Blackface with big, curly horns... I wonder why! ;)
When that was over, I went to grab a smoothie while my friends placed bets on the sheep-racing. I told them to pick a purple one for me, but there wasn't a purple one apparently, so they picked me the pink one called Little Pullover (I think). We all had badges to indicate who we'd bet on. My sheep won! I now have a lovely mug declaring that I picked the winner at the Big Sheep. :) The race itself was really good fun to watch. All the sheep have jockeys - little knitted sheep (and one sheepdog) that somehow stay in place throughout!
Once the excitement of my win was over, we went to the Nursery Barn to see all the baby animals - piglets, lambs, chicks and puppies! Aww!!! They were all very cute!
Unfortunately, Battlefield Live was unavailable on the day we visited, so I can't describe what that's like. We also decided against the Farm Safari as it looked fairly busy, but I'll definitely have a go next time. I used to love riding on tractors when I was a little girl! :)
Finally we went to the shop, where we bought cuddly sheep & biscuits (which were extremely yummy!), and then we headed home after a truly fab day out. I highly recommend this to everyone - there is so much fun to be had for people of all ages!
What are ewe waiting for?
