BY the time we arrived at Monk Park Farm, owner Mark Hebdon was pretty cheesed off. He'd already had to chase an escaped llama and was fielding calls from the Press about the possibility of having to get rid of his wallabies and fallow deer if he refused to get a zoo licence.

"We want to remain a farm park," he said, "we want to stay small, this is what we do best. We don't want to become a zoo and take on all the extra expense that that entails."

I've got to agree that they do this farm park thing very well.

By the time we got there, we were ready for lunch. It was beautifully sunny, so we chose to sit outside.

There are oodles of picnic tables surrounding the biggest sandpit I've ever seen. And in the sandpit were buckets and spades galore - such a simple idea, but what a winner. For colder days, there is a colourful indoor picnic area alongside the caf.

We munched our lunch, then Grandad obligingly took the picnic stuff the short walk back to the car before we began our walk around.

Matilda, four, had already sampled the adventure playground after bolting down her sarnies much quicker than the sensible adults.

With a little gentle persuasion, we managed to coax her away from the tunnel and slide, towards the animals. First up were some rather fabulous pigs - saddlebacks to be precise. Edwin, one, being rather porcine himself, was quite taken with these.

Next was the poultry, but we're not talking common-or-garden hens, this lot are seriously exotic. Grandad's favourites were the white sultans, a type of bouffant-haired chicken. Matilda was impressed with the turkey and its astonishingly ugly turquoise, blue and red wrinkly head.

We wandered a bit further and came to a field with a sign saying "Camaroon sheep". The only occupant of the field looked like a llama to me, however - perhaps it was the one that had escaped earlier? A little further on we came to what I presumed were the real Camaroon sheep, beautiful, delicate brown and black animals with a friendly disposition.

By this point Matilda had got her bag of food out - 50p at the entrance - I've always thought this is cunning ploy, getting the visitors to pay to feed your animals; I'm glad our next-door neighbours don't expect us to pay for the privilege of feeding their cat when they're away. Matilda, of course, thought it was marvellous and was liberally spraying it around.

It was a hot day, and all of the other visitors were sensibly staying in the main animal area close to the shade and ice creams.

In the interests of proper research, I felt compelled to explore the woodland walk, so we set off. We were well rewarded with an abundance of early-summer flowers: speedwell, forget-me-not and red campion.

Edwin had a bit of a bumpy ride in our all-expense-spared old buggy, but Matilda tramped valiantly and almost uncomplainingly, stopping for only one sit-down protest. She was amenable to the promise of a chance to feed the lambs back near the entrance.

We made our way past the threatened "wobollies" and fallow deer to the barn where the milk was being made up to feed the lambs.

Several children were milling around, excited at the prospect. Brendan, 17, showed true showmanship in encouraging the kids to shout for the lambs: "Wakey, wakey lambs!" they all yelled.

Nothing.

"We'll have to shout louder" said Brendan. "WAKEY, WAKEY LAMBS!" they tried again, pantomime-style.

The gate opened and a stampede of lambs charged towards the children proffering their bottles.

I thought Edwin had a hefty suck, but that's nothing compared to these lot. The bigger ones downed their bottles in seconds and then tried snatching the bottles off some of their more delicate contemporaries. Matilda wasn't very impressed with a big yob of a lamb trying to usurp her little gentle one.

But the whole performance was quite a spectacle to behold. Reluctantly, we returned the bottle to Brendan and made our way back to the car to pick up Asa from school, resolving not to make it sound like we'd had too nice a day. But we had.

Fact file

Monk Park Farm, three miles from Thirsk along the A170 towards Sutton Bank. Take the Bagby, Balk and Kilburn turn off.

Open daily until October 30th, 11am-5.30.

Tel: 01845 597730 www.monkpark.co.uk

Adult £4, Child (2-16) £3, under-twos free, pensioners £3

Toilets and baby changing facilities ; Free parking; Caf and picnic areas; Accessible for pushchairs and wheelchairs

Tickets to be won

Win one of three family tickets (2 adults and 2 children) entitling you to a free day out at Monk Park Farm by answering the following question:

Name the breed of the Monk Park Farm pigs?

Send your answers by August 5 on a postcard to Family Times Competiton, Darlington & Stockton Times, Priestgate, Darlington DL1 1NF

l Usual Newsquest (North-East) Ltd competitoon rules apply