Seller pitch fee: 6 cars, 7 cars with trailer or vans Buyer entry fee: FREE! Refreshments will be available and there will be toilets on site. For more details, telephone Julie Morgan on or email us at .  Please spread the word!

What is Fairytale Farm

"The vision is to create an inclusive facility, designed to be completely accessible to, and stimulate the imagination of, children with varying disabilities, but which these children can enjoy alongside children and families without disabilities."

There are very few rural facilities for disabled children and their families. As most parents of children with special needs know, much of the countryside is out of bounds. Although there are a number of centres for disabled children, these tend to be institutional and require advanced booking, and most mainstream attractions are not fully accessible, despite the efforts of owners.

Fairytale Farm will be different. We will be the first family farm attraction where everything is designed around the needs of children with sensory, learning and physical disabilities. But we hope that children without  disabilities will enjoy it too!

A day out in the countryside

There are very few rural facilities for disabled children and their families. As most parents of children with special needs know, much of the countryside is out of bounds. Although there are a number of centres for disabled children, these tend to be institutional and require advanced booking, and most mainstream attractions are not fully accessible, despite the efforts of owners.

Fairytale Farm will be different. We will be the first family farm attraction where everything is designed around the needs of children with sensory, learning and physical disabilities. But we hope that children without  disabilities will enjoy it too! It will just be a day out for the family, not a day care centre; just turn up and have fun. Nick and Nicola Laister, whose eldest daughter has cerebral palsy, decided to acquire a small farm and create a childrens activity farm where disabled children and their families could spend a day out in the countryside doing various rural activities on a site where everything was primarily designed around their needs.

The vision is to create an inclusive facility, designed to be completely accessible to, and stimulate the imagination of, children with varying disabilities, but which these children can enjoy alongside children and families without disabilities, and which operates in the same way as a standard rural farm park (i.e. it can be visited without being in a group or with pre-booking). In other words, the sort of facility that Nick and Nicola would have liked to have been able to visit themselves with their own daughter.

This facility would not be a care facility or an institutional experience, but a family day/morning/afternoon in the countryside, built around the needs of the family member whose needs are most difficult to cater for, but open to all.

Finding a site

Nick and Nicola embarked on a search for a site. It needed to be in a rural location, as it would involve farm animals and general countryside activities. As the use would involve, for example, a parking area and possibly adventure play equipment for disabled children, it was felt that a rural location that was adjacent to other existing businesses and activities would be most appropriate, outside of landscape designations and where it would not be prominent on the wider landscape. It would also need good access from a good quality road, a dwelling for the family to live in and be located on a flat site.

After searching throughout 2007 and 2008, Nick and Nicola were sent the details of Southcombe Farm. This had been used as a farm shop and other businesses (including an engineering business and recording studio) for a number of years and came with a range of outbuildings, including several workshops, farm shop, stables, and a farm house, built in the 1800s.

Fairytale Farm

The farm will be inclusive and designed primarily around the needs of children with sensory, learning or physical disabilities. It will be the location for a day or part-day out in the countryside undertaking a variety of rural and educational activities (many of which would be related as closely as possible to the national curriculum), firmly rooted in the local area, where everything is designed around disabled children. We will welcome all children, but we cannot guarantee that everything will be accessible to children without disabilities.

The existing paddocks will be used for various activities, including animal petting and displays, childrens play facilities (including a small play area made up of equipment designed for disabled children) and sensory trails. The trails will be educational for children with learning difficulties, with the aim of stimulating the imagination, and will comprise small features at child/wheelchair height, mainly based around local history, culture and legends, with features to see, touch, smell and hear.

The existing outbuildings (stables, farm shop, barn, two-storey workshops) will be used in association with the activity farm for various indoor activities (especially when wet), indoor education, toilets and refreshments. Access will be taken directly from the A44 near the Southcombe traffic lights, only two miles outside Chipping Norton, using the existing access road constructed in 2000.

Help Us!

Nick and Nicola Laister are building this unique attraction without any grant funding. They are looking to acquire, or receive donations, of numerous items to ensure that this facility can open in 2012.

Details, plan of the site and lots more pics at http://www.fairytalefarm.co.uk