Nettlecombe Farm is a wonderful family-friendly farm-stay located in the Isle of Wight countryside. There are nine award-winning (dog-friendly may I add) self-catering holiday cottages with fabulous countryside views.
They have been welcoming families for over forty years offering guest an amazing experience, including farm feeding and meeting the friendly farm residents.
All children, big or small get the opportunity to become a farmer for the morning and help with the morning feeds. This is free and exclusive to guests staying at the farm.
The lovely talented farm keeper Lucy, took some time in writing to us about their animals and what makes guests and her smile. Below are some of the very loved and very loving animals at Nettlecombe Farm:
Nettlecombe Farm Animals
”Our animals
Welly Pecking Chickens
We have three breeds of chicken on our farm;
Our main laying chickens are very friendly and love eating out of your hand and pecking your wellies. They lay loads of
eggs all year round, which you can collect on your tours and buy from Farmer Jose during your stay.
We have 2 groups of white faced Spanish chickens, the kind that are painted on Spanish pottery. They have inky black
iridescent feathers, with bright red combs. Each group lives with a cockerel; Our first Spanish cockerel is named Cooper and our second is a blind guy named Stevie Wonder. They lay little white eggs in the Summer.
Finally we have a pair of gorgeous buff orpingtons, Spotty the cockerel and his wife Pearl.
Edna, Percy and friends
Edna the emu is a huge, beautiful and very intelligent bird. She loves cuddles with our farmers and lays giant dark
green eggs during the Winter.
Percy the peacock lives with his wife Mrs P and their 2 daughters, whilst our other peacock Tormund, lives with a turkey called Brienne!
We have four geese, Gavin, Greta, Gareth and Gertrude. They are new to Nettlecombe Farm and are just getting to
know everyone. Hopefully they will be ready to meet everyone when we are able to reopen.
Little and large rabbits and guinea pigs
We have four bunnies and two guinea pigs on the Farm. Thumper is a grey netherland dwarf rabbit who lives with
a young short-haired guinea pig named Mars. Our olde-english spotty bunny is named Peter-Stephen Hawking and
shares his run with a long haired guinea pig by the name of Patchwork, the two are often found cuddled up together!
Mary Hoppins is our giant continental rabbit and finally Clover is a tiny black netherland dwarf rabbit.
Mud loving Primrose
Our pig is named Primrose. She’s getting quite old now, but still really appreciates when her breakfast arrives, especially
if you bring her an egg from the chickens. Unlike most pigs, she’s not very good at wallowing, so in the Summer our
famers rub mud all over her to stop her getting sunburned!
Snuggly Curry and Cotton
We have two golden guernsey goats called Curry and Cotton. They love eating out of people’s hands at feeding time.
They also loves to snuggle, but watch out if you’re cuddling Cotton as jealous Curry will push her out of the way to steal
her hugs!
Baaahhhh
We have four breeds at the farm, ever single one has a name and loves to be cuddled.
Jerry & Dave
Jerry and Dave are best friends and have lived together since they were lambs. Jerry is our baby-doll south down ram
and Dave is a herdwick sheep. Dave was bottle reared on the farm and loves having a cuddle.
Marmite
Marmite is a french ouessant ram. He’s pretty old and can be pretty grumpy. He loves to head-butt things, but he’s a big
softie really!
Teeny Fred and Croissant the Ouessant
Teeny Fred is a young ouessant ram who will be a daddy sheep for the first time this spring! Croissant is his companion,
keeping him company when his wives move out!
Everyone else!
The rest of our sheep live in four flocks across the farm. They range in age from last year’s lambs to elderly sheep of over
15 years old. We have four breeds. The ouessants are tiny black or brown sheep from France. They are inquisitive an
fast on their hooves. Doris is our oldest ouessant, Derek our friendliest and Squiggly is the escape artist! We have three
hampshire down sheep, Keith, Rosie and Aya. They have really soft curly white coats and little black noses. They are
incredibly stocky and muscular. Our baby-doll south down sheep are Ollie and his mother Holly. They are a little bit
shy but still love to come and eat out of your hand. Finally we have an entire flock of gorgeous herdwicks, these include
our very friendliest sheep Alfie and Oreo. These guys just want to be cuddled all day long. They are all different shade
of brown, grey and white and have thick fleeces suitable for the mountains of the Lake District from where they came.
Alpacas
George and William live together. George is very much in charge and can be very friendly. When you feed the Alpacas
you use confident body language to show them how brave you are. Otherwise they might steal your hat!
Angus lives further along with a small flock of last year’s lambs. He’s too timid to live with the other Alpacas and anyway, he think’s he is a sheep!
Cows a licking
Proud creators of the Trademark ‘slobbery cow hand’, Nadine and Nightshade are our pair of gorgeous and massive
Jersey cows. They love nothing more than licking some cattle feed out of your hand.
Muddy Pixie
Pixie is a stunning white pony that came to live on the farm last Spring. At the moment though, she is covered in mud
no matter how often we brush her! She loves breakfast and going for walks with her donkey friend Harry.
Naughty Donkeys
We have a herd of six donkeys at Nettlecombe Farm. They are gentle animals who love carrot sticks and tickles around
their ears. Bess is the matriarch of the group and keeps the naughty donkeys in line!’
Previous guests at Nettlecombe Farm would say the highlight of their visit would be feeding all the animals and learning about how the farm operates.
Tours are lead each day and every tour begins with chicken feeding, meeting the bunnies and guinea pigs for a cuddle, followed by feeding Primrose the pig and her pals the two golden goats Curry and Cotton. Then guests head down the the valley with the Farmers, buckets and wheelbarrow to feed the sheep, alpacas and hand feed carrots to the Donkeys.
At a certain time of year, guests may even get to meet lambs which they are able to bottle feed during their stay.
Animal feeding and tours are not the only activities on offer, there are three coarse fishing lakes which is free to guests, yoga and Pilates.
The Isle of Wight is a fab place to visit, and get away from the busy mainland life. There are some lovely sandy beaches, lots of walks and even some cycling routes for the more adventurous families. Nettlecombe farm can also give guests discounted ferry prices too!
