'Mobile farm' visit to Boston-area care home a delight

A care home near Boston has played host to a group of visitors with a difference, much to the delight of residents.

Avocet House Care Home, in Parkes Lane, Wyberton, recently welcomed a collection of animals, courtesy of Ark Farm.

Soft to touch (with a couple of notable exceptions), they included chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs.

Ark Farm describes itself as ‘mobile farm operation’. It brings animals into nurseries, schools, children's centres and care homes to offer educational or just tactile experiences.

Anne Main and Brian Batley with a rabbit.

Along with the chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs, residents at Avocet House also got to meet a pigmy hedgehog, a barn owl, and a tortoise.

A spokesman for the care home – which launched in 2020 as part of The Quadrant development – said residents were ‘delighted’ to be able to handle the animals and recalled happy memories of family pets, visits to zoos, and even working on farms.

Home manager Zoe Randall said: “It was lovely to see how interacting with the small animals brought such happiness to the day for our residents. They loved the opportunity to pet and handle the creatures in the comfort of the home. We will definitely be inviting Ark Farm back very soon.”

Started as a family business in 2009, Ark Farm has grown to become of the leading mobile farms in the UK and only one of a handful covering the East Midlands and Home Counties region.

For more on the operation, visit: www.arkfarm.co.uk