Surrey Docks Farm’s Adorable Piglets and Lambs

Surrey Quays SE16

Surrey Docks Farm is a local London community farm on the Rotherhithe peninsula with lots of farm animals for kids to enjoy. Located attractively on the riverside, this is also a popular pitstop on the popular Thames Path walking route.

Surrey Docks Farm Activities

One of the things that we love about Surrey Docks Farm is all the activities for children. This includes meeting the small animals up close, donkey and pony rides, taking part in a farm holiday club as well as family cooking. Note that many of the activities need pre-booking. Surrey Docks Farm also organises a Christmas fair, spring fair, and a harvest festival in September each year that we always try to visit. There are also school workshops, and the farm supports adults with learning difficulties with projects that involve different types of farming. Activities such as “Plot to Shop” growing vegetables is a really nice way to engage the local community and generate some extra income for the farm.

Attention to animal welfare 

All the animals are currently being farmed to free-range standards, and with the many friendly volunteers, we always had a good impression of the animal being taken well care of. This includes the goats occupying the inner farmyard, an eager bunch jumping up on the fences to attract attention. As a side note, the goats can be a bit intimidating for younger children with no experience of farm animals. Also, note that feed bags can be bought in the farm shop for £1.

The stolen piglets

The pigs on the farm are very popular with our kids, especially after the piglets are born. These spotty ginger pigs belong to the old English breed Oxford Sandy & Black. In September 2018 we were devastated after 11 small spotty piglets went mysteriously missing. Whoever snatched the piglets avoided the main routes in and out of the farm to evade being captured on the CCTV, and it still remains an unsolved crime. We were happy to see that security was upgraded to make sure the rare breed stay safe.

Besides the pigs, we enjoy visiting the cows, sheep, donkeys, chicken, ducks and geese on the farm. There is even a small farm shop with eggs, plants and vegetables on sale. It also used to be a cafe on-site which was a very popular hangout for local families having brunch during weekends and from what we understand the farm is currently looking to engage a new business to run the cafe space.