Meet the most important members of the Herding Hill Farm family in our petting farm

When you stay at our family-friendly campsite in Northumberland, you will love meeting our friendly animals on our petting farm. They are part of our campsite family at Herding Hill Farm. Enjoy cuddles with our rabbits and guinea pigs, collect freshly laid eggs from our happy hens and help with the daily feeding of our three alpacas Mamba, Knight and Minstrel, our donkey Coco, Aaron and Alvin our goats, Robin the Shetland Pony and our two fast-growing piglets Chilli and Ginger.

"It's brilliant for kids - ours loved seeing all of the friendly animals"

Animal Petting Farm

Perfect for families, pets, walkers and cyclists

Alpacas are often confused with llamas but whilst closely related they tend to be smaller. Our three alpacas are full of personality and individual character and are ideal for petting farms. Alpacas don’t have teeth in the top-front of their mouths, which is why they sometimes look a bit goofy.

We were sorry to lose Barney, our second donkey and Bubble, our infamous large Kune Kune pig from our petting farm during 2020. They are sorely missed by wardens and guests, young and old, alike. But we know our younger guests will love our new Kune Kune piglets Chilli and Ginger who are already a firm favourite.

All our campsite animals on the petting farm are a constant source of fascination, humour and wonder. They love their home on our petting farm in the Northumberland countryside at our Hadrian’s Wall campsite, not least because they love the attention they receive from our Northumberland camping guests! You will often hear Coco braying in disgust if nobody has been to talk to him recently or he feels feeding is overdue. 

We encourage our younger guests to help our campsite wardens with the daily feeding at our petting farm and meet our animals up close. This can help build their confidence with new animals. When children interact with animals, they build the all-important senses of connection, empathy and caring. They feel a sense of responsibility and are curious to find out more about the animal. In many cases it may be the first time they have seen an animal in the flesh. Our site wardens can tell them all about the animals in our petting farm and encourage them to learn their names.

Check out our BLOG for more information on the animals that live here at Herding Hill Farm.