So December appears with snow, frost and lots and lots of fun at Old Macdonald’s Farm. First of all we have Santa for you, with two beautiful reindeer, and you will find him here on 6th and 7th December, then every day from 13th December right through to the 23rd after which he will jet back to Lapland, in an environmentally friendly way of course, to wrap presents for all the children and then deliver them all around the World on the night of Christmas Eve. We will bring more December news soon, but if you want to visit Santa at the Farm and would like to book a time then please email soon to oldmacdonalds@btconnect.com and tell us your preferred dates and times so we can put you in his diary, and tell us about the children who want to come too so we can make sure he knows all about them!

Also just a quick word of praise for the lovely Jess who works here (shown with Darren and Annie, and just to avoid any doubt, Darren is holding Annie, who is the Eagle Owl! Jess is the young woman shown)

Jess has taken the brave, and slightly mad, decision to do a major parachute jump for charity on behalf of Barts Hospital and we at Old Macdonalds are sponsoring her so invite you to as well. She is going to jump 10,000 feet, but you will be pleased to learn she will be strapped not only to a Parachute but also to someone who knows what they are doing, so if you would like to sponsor her too then again email us at oldmacdonalds@btconnect.comand we will put you in touch with her. She will freefall 5,000 feet and then the chute will open. This is being written by someone who wants a safety net to change a light bulb, so rather Jess than me, and to be honest even Annie the Eagle Owl did not seem keen to join in.

Enough for now, more soon, but do not forget to visit Santa at the farm. On the days he is here, you can pop in without making a prior booking any day after 2 pm so do not let the children miss out!

As we all look forward to autumn, Old Macdonald is getting very excited because his farm has been nominated for a prestigious award, as the East of England Tourist Board have put him forward on the short list for Sustainable Development Tourist Attraction of the year. He and Mrs Macdonald (certainly not known as Old Mrs Macdonald we stress) are off to a presentation dinner at the end of October, and we will tell you more.

However you may be more interested in what is coming up at the farm, so we remind you to look out for our fun Halloween Week during the October Half Term, from October 25th to 31st, where in addition to the creepy spiders, ghosts, ghoulies and witches you would expect to find (during Halloween week I mean, not all the time) we have our annual Pumpkin firing competition. If you did not come across this before, it is marginally mad as we allow children to bring along a pumpkin and we will shoot it on the Catapult, made from scrap and shown above, at a Witchy Target, with the winner getting an annual season ticket! If you want to find out more or even wish to enter, then email us on oldmacdonalds@btconnect.comand we will send you all the details. There is no charge to enter and all you need do is book your place and bring your pumpkin to fire at the witchy target! (No witches were injured in the running of this competition though a lot of pumpkins get splattered, then fed to the goats).

Then the reindeer are looking forward to Christmas and I will tell you more about our Christmas Grotto soon, and the rabbits are settled in their refurbished home as is our brand new Otter, to be a friend for Nipper. Now we look back on a great summer here in Brentwood.

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Set yourself up for a great time during 2008 here at Old Macdonald’s Farm. Read on for news of some special events coming very soon. Why not join our email Farm Friends list by replying to this article and we will send you regular news letters and special offers too?

For instance, right now you can come and see our brand new Truck Trouble Show, complete with singing chicken, Colonel Blimp and a troubled Old Macdonald!

By the way, the latest two photos on this article are of Pebble, one of our farm kittens who has now found a loving home with Clare and family, so if you have any of our farm kittens living with you, why not email in their photos too? Let us see if they are all as hard working as Pebble here!

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June 15th is Father’s Day and we hope that you will treat your Dad on this special day, we are sure he deserves it. All our own Farmyard Dads are waiting to meet you so why not drag him along for a great day out.

We are running a special promotion this year so if you print off this story and bring it with you your Dad come in for just £1 for the day, and have a free cup of tea and some biscuits too. Then you can go off and enjoy all the animals and the attractions too while he sits and drinks his welcome cuppa and maybe watches our Giant Screen TV in the play area. (more…)