Mary Arden's Farm

Fantastic place to take the kids. Buy a ticket for all Shakespeare's houses and you can go as many times as you like. The place is beautifully restored and has lots of people in period dress to tell you about the history. The animals are very accessible and friendly with plenty of places to wash your hands. The food in the restaurant was excellent and reasonably priced and with good veggie options. The kids particularly liked the archery and the excellent falconry display. Will definitely go again. Highly recommended.

This is an ideal place to spend half a day with kids. There lots of animals and a playground for them, plus lots of great historical sites and information for kids and adults. It is included on the multi site Shakespeare tickets. Those tickets last for a year so are a great value. There is an adequate cafeteria. There are lots of activities and tours.

I absolutely loved this place. Lots of history and animals to see. It's perfect for kids and all the staff is funny and helpful. I spent there about an hour, but better stay a bit more

An enthralling and unique way to learn and experience the life and times of William Shakespeare. The farm has plenty of things to see and do, from chopping wood and watching falconry to seeing the set up of a traditional Tudor household. The staff are 'in character' which adds to the fun and it is highly amusing when they balk at 'obvious witchcraft' when using phones and cameras. This is a great place to visit no matter the age.

Incredible! Great for children they have opportunities to learn, many workshops to do. It is engaging. And I loved the presentation of lunch in Tudor times. The ladies were brilliant. Thank you!

Great place for a trip out. Out of the Shakespeare locations this is definitely the child centric one but still interesting to be in and around! The staff are all very knowledgeable on the subject and clearly enjoy working there which makes for a lovely environment. They do also have activities on occasion such as story telling and flower garland making so definitely check them out if you go!

We had a brilliant time here. The staff in their medieval costumes were fantastic. There is so much to take in. The Falconry display was excellent. Some people made comments about the cafe food so we took our own. However looking at the menu we wished we had eaten there.

Lovely day out to spend here. We enjoyed a lot. Loads of baby animals in this time of the year. High recommended. Lovely food in the caffettiera as well.

Wonderful place to stop and spend some time. Got to see a demonstration with wool, discussion on different types of wool. Donkeys, horses, goats, falconry and gardens. The demonstration with Talia the eagle owl was delightful and fun. Friendly staff, very educational.

Faux History Tourist trap, loaded with cheap souvenirs, This whole area has been sucked dry of any historical significance with an overwhelming array of tourist trap spots. What, if any, is the significance of this place? Who knows. The mercantile message drowns out the historical. Very sad.

We walked to Mary Arden's Farm from Stratford-upon-Avon. Fair warning: it's a LONG walk. Don't do it if you're not prepared to walk 5 miles (or about 8 km) there and back. I suppose a bike ride would nice, though. It's along a river through really Englishy countryside with rolling hills and and pebbly roads. Once we got there, it was pretty meh. Admissions is covered in the Shakespeare Five House ticket, but not any of the other types of ticket packages. You just walk around and look at pigs and rooms. We saw some owls and falcons, a dovecove, some pigs, an old oven, old bedrooms with small beds.... It's not really educational - there wasn't much to learn about Shakespeare or Mary Arden. I didn't think they made much of an effort to make it tourist friendly either. It wasn't really worth it but still mildly interesting. I recommend saving some money and just purchasing the Four House ticket and forgo this house.

Taking the City Sightseeing bus to Mary Arden's Farm, we see lush fields of green, horses w/ their foals frolicking & expectations are rising high for a substantial bit of history Unfortunately there is only a small farmhouse - granted it's an Elizabethan working farm of sorts - but no "real" history to speak of.....just a rundown old farmhouse Also - if you bought the comprehensive Stratford upon Avon ticket which grants you access to all the historical sites, this one is not included.....cough up another £8 to get in Not worth it!! (Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mom for those of you who don't know)

We went there in mid-June, and it was amazing. Volunteers maintain it as a working farm. While we were there, we saw wool carding, a falconry display, a working kitchen garden and farm, and a beautifully maintained medieval home. A docent gave us a standard talk on what medieval life was like and how we could tell that the Arden family was well off (beautifully polished pewter and fancy embroidery were key elements), but it was accurate and appropriate for a tourist audience. Yes, there was a tourist-y element (ye olde gift shoppe), but that's to be expected. The staff, docent, and volunteers were friendly, helpful, and informative.

I live 20 minutes away from Mary Arden's Farm and go there regularly with my wife and 2 young children. It's a place to take some time over one not to be rushed. The farm and house are left as they were, with no fancy theme park style perzazz. The farm is a working one so you'll be able to feed some of the animals and view exhibitions of falconry on event days. There's enough info around if you can be bothered to read it, to understand the beginnings of the farm, the life of those involved and the type of materials used in the construction of the properties. A walk of a mile around the farm will eanble you to see the contours of the land and how the farm animals use the fields. If you go on a day when there are events listed, there's usually a hog roast - for other days a picnic is ideal. All of the staff are very friendly and the children (and adults) can take part in small storytelling plays and making bread - amongst other things. It's worth going for a day to soak up the atmosphere and to try all the activities.

We go pretty much every year as a family, 2 children now 4 and 6, Mum and Dad, aunt and uncle and oldies. If you're expecting a US-style museum, with a glossy "experience" (by the way I like that sometimes!) you might not "get it". On the other hand, if you're truly interested in getting close to another aspect of Shakespearean life, you should go. We love it. The entry price is fair given what they have to maintain, everyone is friendly and there is more than enough to keep the kids occupied. The grown ups love the rare breed animals as well. Take some time to talk to the people in costume if there are any.

living in the midlands we have only just visited this farm ... may i say first from previous reviews that this more than anything represents our england in days gone by just by walking around you get a sense of yesterday more than anything else , it should be enjoyed for the simple pleasures like the cottage gardens and animals ,times gone by somewhere just to spend a wonderful relaxing day watching displays and letting the children run around , please dont put vistors off coming here simply because it is different to the other houses in stratford .. i recommend this day out to all