Staying Safe at Whitehouse Farm
We are so excited to announce we are re-opening on 11th July, entry will be pre booked tickets only. Here’s the important information you need to know before you visit.
This information may change as further guidance is issued and restrictions are eased.
Enjoying a safe day out at Whitehouse Farm
As we all get used to the new normal, your visit to Whitehouse Farm will feel a little different, we’ve put lots of measures in place in order to keep you, our staff, our animals and our wider community safe.
Following our social distancing guidelines to keep yourselves and others safe during your visit is everyone’s responsibility. Parents are responsible for ensuring their children follow these guidelines too. If we all do this and new daily cases of Covid-19 remain low then hopefully a day out at Whitehouse Farm will start to feel more like normal as we’re able to re-open more attractions and activities.
We’ve followed various government and industry sector guidance and we’ll be staying on top of changes as and when they’re introduced. If there are any suggestions you have or anything you see during your visit that concerns you, we’re asking you to please speak to a member of our staff who will be pleased to hear from you. This is all new to us, however we can ensure you we are working hard to keep on top of all the guidelines and make a visit to the farm safe and enjoyable.
Please note from 24th July in-line with Government legislation Face Masks must be worn in our gift shop, cafe and ice cream parlour. From 8th August it will be essential to wear a mask in all indoor areas, including our Petting Barn, this is based on new Government Law.
You Must Pre-Book Your Visit
We’ve restricted our visitor numbers to provide even more space for you to enjoy a socially distanced day out at Whitehouse Farm. Before you visit everyone will need to have a pre booked entry ticket and time slot, this applies to annual members, gift voucher holders, and under 2’s who are free to visit. You will not be able to add to your party when you arrive, everyone must have a pre-booked ticket, if you have any queries or question about this please email dawn@whitehousefarmcentre.co.uk. Pre-booking means we can control visitor numbers and staggered arrival times means we can reduce crowding at the entrance till’s so you won’t find yourself waiting for a long time in queues.
It is essential that you do not arrive early for your time slot, if you do arrive early please wait in your car until your allocated time slot. Late arrivals may not be accommodated, it is your responsibility to arrive at your allocated slot.
We’re All in this Together
Based on what we’ve seen as other zoos and attractions have re-opened across the UK, the demand for pre-booked tickets is likely to be high. You may not get your first choice of date or arrival time and we’re really sorry about that.
We’ll be releasing more tickets in a phased manner when we’re confident our visitor numbers can increase in line with our social distancing measures. We’re also hopeful that as time goes on, we’ll be in position to remove the need to pre-book tickets.
We thank you for your understanding and support as we all get used to this new normal.
Wash Your Hands
We’ve plenty of handwashing stations across the Farm with soap and hot water so please wash your hands regularly during your visit. We’ve also added additional hand sanitising stations so you’re never too far away from somewhere you can sanitise your hands.
Paws off
We’ve enhanced the cleaning measures we already have in place but we’re asking you to help us and yourselves by not touching fences, barriers, signs, windows and protective screens.
Keep Your Distance
Please follow our on-site instructions and maintain the recommended distance from other visitors. The 2m rule may have been eased, however, as we’ve got plenty of outdoor space for you to socially distance we’d suggest you keep to 2m while outdoors, we will have guides on the floor for indoor areas. We’ve put in place one-way systems for the Petting Barn, Porkies Parlour, the Cafe and our Gift Shop to help you keep your distance from other guests and we’ve put in place socially distanced queuing systems in our toilet blocks, takeaway food outlets and at the admissions entrance.
Please support us by following these guidelines, you may find you need to queue to enter the Petting Barn. However this is a measure to keep you and your family safe, we appreciate this will feel a little strange however it is essential to keep us all safe.
Don’t Visit with Symptoms
Please don’t visit us if you have symptoms of coronavirus including a persistent new cough, temperature or sudden loss of taste or smell. If you are in a shielded group, are self-isolating or have been in contact with anyone with symptoms then you also must not visit to keep yourself and others safe.
What’s Open and What’s Not
We have received confirmation that our animal handling opportunities can run, we wont have set times as we previously have and this will run all day.
We will have a queue system in place to enter our Petting Barn, with limited numbers in the barn at any given time. Please join the queue and wait for a member of staff who will come and get you when you can enter. Please dress appropriately for the weather as the queue will be outside.
Our Café will be open with a restricted menu, the Ice Cream Parlour will be selling ice creams, ice lollies, cold drinks and snacks and the Snack Shack in Hoglets Adventure Play Area will be selling drinks and snacks too. (opening times are subject to change, please check with staff when you arrive).
Our outdoor walkway is open and you can feed all the outdoor animals too.
Our outdoor play areas are open, along with our pedal tractors, go karts, racing cars, brand new Jurassic jeeps and jumping pillows too. We have set up cleaning stations in all these areas so you can clean items prior to your children using them, staff will also be regularly cleaning down all equipment, with safety in mind. We want you to feel safe and secure during your visit which is why we have added the option for you to clean items yourself prior to each use.
Tractor rides will be running into our field where you can see our cows, calves, sheep and lambs too.
Our Bird of Prey area will be open for you to view our beautiful birds, with Liam our Falconer on hand to answer questions. We are hoping to offer handling opportunities using disposable gloves. However flying displays will temporarily not be running to avoid crowds gathering.
In line with Government Guidelines our indoor soft play area and the small play area in the picnic barn will be closed initially, we will monitor developments and re-open these areas as quickly as we can.
Things to Remember
Please pay by card where you can, contactless payment is safer for us all, we will accept cash however would appreciate card payments where possible.
Our racing cars and new Jurassic Jeeps take pound coins to operate, we will have limited cash on site so please bring along coins with you for these attractions.
In these early days we will be issuing tickets every Tuesday for the following week, please see schedule below to cover the next few weeks:
Visit Date Date Tickets are on Sale
11th July – 17th July 30th June 2020
18th July – 24th July 7th July 2020
25th July – 31st July 14th July 2020
1st August – 7th August 21st July 2020
