Golden Ridge Animal Farm

Amazing customer service! – I've had an indescribably great experience at Golden Ridge. A long way from home, but I will be visiting them often. Specifically, they care for the animals as much as their customers. My partner and me were treated to the highest level of service and care - well beyond any expectations.

Great hands on experience, wow lots of fun! – The farm was clean, well staffed and they were very knowledgeable. Lots of different animals, the dear was a surprise. Great amount of activities and we loved the lamb feeding. Toilets need paper towels.

Fun for kids and adults – We enjoyed Be a Farmer for a Day. Great fun was had by our kids, lots to do, painting, jumping castle, sheep and goat races, gum boot tossing, sack races, feeding animals, holding baby ducks, chickens, or rabbits, bottle feeding baby lambs, goats (kids), milking a cow and goat and pony rides. Kept us entertained and excited. My autistic son had time and spaces to step out of the crowd and noise to calm down and enjoy himself.

A cold and non child friendly experience – My wife and daughter paid and entered the farm while my 8 years old son and I waited at the car park. Son complained and need to use a toilet. The middle age female farm attendant refused to let my son use the toilet with an excuse that WE HAVE TO PAY TO USE THEIR TOILET!!!! It felt so cold. That was the first i heard in Australia!!! Never go back again. Very disappointed that such a poor attitude/treatment found in tourism insdustry.

Great place for kids – Had an amazing time visiting the farm..my two year old fell in love with the place..highly recommend this farm v

Great day out with the kids! – My wife and I had a great day out with my 2 year old daughter and got some great photos holding the baby ducks and rabbits. We also got to bottle feed baby goats and lambs. Milking a cow was the highlight, They even let me have a go! The farm is set out great with plenty of room for families and birthday parties. We have already booked our… Read more

daughters 3rd birthday there at the end of the year. The staff were great! They answered all our questions and were very helpful with all kids running around. Possibly the best part is the cost! Absolute bargain. I don't know anywhere where you can go and feed lambs, pat baby ducks and rabbits, have a pony ride, milk a cow and loads more! Looking forward to going back for my daughters bday party, all the staff do a great job and deserve a pat on the back!

grear farm for families – I have visited this farm several times in the last 4 years since having my daughter. She was very nervous of all animals and as advised by the farm we have visited several times to get her used to them... now she LOVES them all. It was the care and experience of the farmers and staff at golden ridge who helped her over come her fears. I cant… Read more

thank them enough.

It is a very hands on farm you milk a cow, feed the baby lamb with milk, hold ducks and rabbits. You can buy a bucket if you want to feed the bigger animals.

Its cheaper to visit than other farms around and heaps cheaper than the zoo. they have pony rides too for extra.

The animals are all looked after and happy.

There is a small cafe you can buy snacks and drinks.

Poorly organised and pretty awful – We went for the farmer for a day Easter eggstravaganza.. No where on the website does it say accompanying adults are charged the same price as the kids which on this day was $25.. Fair enough I can deal with that, but then on top of that $5 for feed, $5 for a pony ride, $3 for an egg to smash in a competition, there was a sausage sizzle advertised… Read more

but when you were ready for lunch you had to go to a lunch truck and wait for a sausage to be cooked. I just feel like it was very poorly organised..

I wish that was the end of my review but unfortunately I bring my attention to the staff, one of the rudest young ladies I have ever come across works there, if you call it works, she couldn't even do the pony saddle properly and ended up tying it in a know underneath the poor animal, said I'll be back and then dissappeared, only to pop up 10 metres away doing something else and act like we weren't there waiting for her start the pony rides, anyway so I went to have a word with the manager about her attitude and he seemed to just laugh it off saying oh she'll be on pig duty for the rest of the day.

Now, for the poor animals that have obviously been terrible people in their past lives. They've been sent back to pay for their sins over and over again as children mishandle them as there is no adequate supervision by staff not parents. I've never seen so many lambs and goats in such a small space I wonder what happens to them when they grow up?? The lambs were absolutely covered, and I mean covered in flies. It was a sad sight.

Today they only had one session one but for Saturday and Sunday there is 2 per day. I can only imagine what a shmozzle it is going to be and I'm so glad we didn't end up going to the 2nd one tomorrow.

Its hands on! Awsome! – We absolutely enjoyed this farm. We visited today Sunday 25/8/13. From the moment we were greeted to the very last goodbye, we totally enjoyed every moment of our experience. We purchased a bucket of feed upon entry (and then ended up purchasing another later on) for only $5. Entry for Adults is $15, and for the kids $12. Very much worth every… Read more ·  1

cent.

Our tour started at 10.55am. The animal "hands on" starts straight away. We were guided by a young gentleman, who had a fabulous personality that was warm, friendly & encouraging! The kids were told to form a circle on a large grass mat, where they were introduced to the baby ducklings, baby chickens & baby rabbits. Most were only a few days old. Every child got to hold each animal - around 10 ducklings, 6 chics & 6 rabbits were shared & cuddled, guided along with parents too. Lots of photo opportunity as well. This lasted for around 15mins & everyone enjoyed it.

Then we were encouraged to feed the outdoor animals - pigs, goats, alpacas, sheep/lambs, cows, ponies and more. Our children loved this so much, as they had all the animals eating from the palm of their hands. I couldn't get them away from the animals as they were mesmerised with feeding them & patting them too. This went on for around 25mins.

Then it was off to milk the cows. Hands on again, and for their first time (and mine too) we got to milk a cow ourselves!! The kids are still raving about this experience!

Then it was followed by bottle feeding the baby goats. Each child and or parents got to bottle feed a baby goat each, the goats were just gorgeous - we fed them whilst sitting on bales of hay & we were able to pat and cuddle them too.

Pony rides were next on the agenda, and every child got to experience this too ($5).

We did a second round of feeding the animals as the kids really loved interacting with all the different animals. We also experienced a second round of holding the baby rabbits, ducklings & baby chics too.

We truely recommend this farm. Its all hands-on, and its a wonderful experience. The farm is very clean. Today was a beatiful sunny day, and even though we got the kids to wear their gumboots, it wasn't necessary, you can wear runners etc. They are so lovely here, and they allowed the children & adults to interact always with the animals. The children wandered freely, which was very much enjoyed by everyone.

There are a few picnic tables for you to stop & have a snack/lunch - remember to bring your own as there are no shops on-site. There are on-site bathrooms & a wash area too.

Yes it is a farm, but a great one. They were short staffed today and the young man & another lady were running the tour on their own, and they did a fantastic job. So friendly and engaging too. The kids loved them & so did we.

We walked away today taking with us fantastic experiences and wonderful memories. Very hands on, great staff, beautiful animals, clean farm.

Not sure – I haven't been to Golden Ridge for a couple of years, and wasn't overly impressed with it back then (I didn't think it had the best conditions due to high numbers of animals in a small space), but I'm told it has improved now. I guess it's a case of people finding out for themselves, but if you're quite sensitive to animals, then be cautious.

Fantastic Vacation Care Day – We recently took 35 kids to Golden Ridge for a school holiday program. The kids had a ball! The staff were attentive, knowledgeable and the day ran smoothly. I was particularly impressed with the compassion and patience shown to the children who were nervous of the animals. The children were given the confidence to try new things from patting a… Read more

duckling to milking a cow and EVERY child left with a grin on their faces and many with a new found love for animals.

It was a real hands on farm experience- no concrete paths, no fast food stalls just healthy, happy, friendly animals in paddocks, the smell of hay, wonderful staff and a fun day out. We all had a fantastic time and highly recommend it to anyone.

Would advise you follow the farms recommendation and wear gumboots or similar. Hands on experience where the kids get to handle and feed many animals. Supportive, friendly staff. Definitely not a con just an idea: Possibly finding a way to incorporate simple snacks/tea/coffee/kids drinks?

One of the best , cheap day outs we have ever had – I visited this farm recently with my baby and my group of friends with their children ages range 2 - 5. We had a fantastic day and loved every minute of it. We all got to cuddle the little animals and feed the sheep and goats. We bought our own bucket of feed it was $5 but was a decent size that allowed us to feed the animals a second time. After… Read more ·  2

milking the cow ( this did take some time as we waited for everyone to have a go , we went for a little walk around the barn). We got to feed the baby lambs their bottle. The look on the kids faces was amazing as the little lamb drank all the milk.

Yes the farm does look abit run down but after speaking to one of the owners (a young girl) who was running the day she let us know that over the last few years they have spent a lot of money on repairs!! I wondered what it looked like before!! She gave me a little bit of history on the farm and after speaking to her I left knowing that the farm had come a long way with out any government help or funding.

It is a small family run farm its not a zoo. They don't want everything concreted ( even that it would be easier to maintain the owner said) they want to retain a farm like feel.

All the animals were happy, well fed and in clean pens. Some of the animals in the paddocks looked a bit muddy but it had rained heavy for 3 days before our visit. The paddocks do have manure in them but they are paddocks and animals do go to the toilet. I have grown up on a farm in Bathurst and I can see that there are a lot of animals on this property, but not one was skinny or un healthy or sick they all looked well and fat. The owner did tell us that they are selling a lot of them as they are down sizing after the easter show.

We will all visit this farm again, we have visited another farm in sydney since to compare but the other farm was not the same. ( the 5 year old in our group called the other farm boring!)

I don't normally right reviews but I do read them, I think that some of the negative reviews on here are un just. I feel sorry for these people who wrote bad reviews they obviously had a bad time.

I went with a open mind and am glad I did it was fantastic!!

And if you are unsure about anything ask the farmer they are happy to have a chat and explain things to you... Like we did!! This was a cheap day out, everyone gets a turn of everything, I even got to bottle feed the little lamb A bit muddy but we wore gumboots as suggested to us. No cafe or shop. We will take a thermos next time!

Rude cruel hosts – My child came are home from here distraught and crying after a school excursion. The man who ran the tour took a dislike to my child who got in trouble for talking at the beginning of the day. The punishment lasted all day as he then treated my son terribly for the rest of the time. He ridiculed him, refused to let him feed the animals and milk… Read more

the cows (skipping him over time and again) and called attention to his dislike often. He singled him out at question time, answering all the kids questions but when he got to my son said "have a question do you? Tough luck." He then continued answering the other kids

My sons teacher described the man as "vindictive". Nice.

Customer service - appalling. Rude and nasty host who shouldn't deal with children

The best day ever !! The childen and i can't wait to return – I took the family to the Golden Ridge Farm last weekend it was great we arrived at the 10.45 am arrivle time and we entered at 10.55 we looked around the animals indoor for a few mintes before we where asked to sit down for the start of the activites. The owner a young lady told us alittle about the farm and then got the baby animals out for… Read more

us to hold the children loved it, Mike my 3y old has never held a rabbit befor and sarah is 5y she loved the little chicks and ducklings.

We went on a walk to feed the out side animals goats, sheep, deer, cows, ponies, donkey, alpaca, llama and the children loved it they come up to the fence so you can hand feed them and pat them.

The children got to milk the cows and then the best part was the bottle feeding the baby lamb and the baby goats.

we brought a picnic lunch and then the children had a pony ride we have some great photos and it was a cheep day of we are going to take some friends next school holidays.

As to the farms look it is a little rustic, it is over 40 years old but everything was clean the animals are clean and healthy and the staff were great.

I cant wait to go back. cheap, hands on for the children, the animals are so nice, only 40 min drive from bondi you can buy food there, but thats all

Touch and feed animals but could be much more – Golden Ridge Animal Farm is a family-run business in Dural, West of Sydney. We went in Jan, 2012. $14 per adult, $10 per child over 1. They had kids, chicks, ducklings and rabbits to hold/pet and lots of goats, some sheep, cows, donkeys and horses, geese, dogs and cats, most of which patrons can touch, pet, feed and see up close. The experience… Read more

includes holding chicks, ducklings and rabbits, then a tour including feeding the animals (extra $5 for feed bucket), milking a cow, bottle-feeding kids and optional (extra $5) pony rides.

The animals seemed happy and were divine to be close to. They even had a fawn (baby deer) and kids that were less than a week old. I love supporting family-run businesses, and love the idea of this place. But overall, the experience was just OK for three reasons:

1) They have a system whereby you book, then arrive at 10:15 for a 10:30am start. We got there on time but we were left waiting over 45 min (30 min in the scorching sun) for the start, as two groups of people arrived late. If you have small children, you'll know the difficulty in being made to wait that long. They shouldn't have waited for the latecomers, because that pushed back the timing of everything. At 12, we had to leave for our youngest's nap before our older child could get a pony ride, one of the things we were really looking forward to.

2) The girls running the "tour" couldn't have been less interested, providing no information about the animals or what it's like to live on/run an animal farm, etc; normal things you'd expect to hear on such an experience. I got the impression they were sick to death of being on the farm.

3) The place wasn't well kept. The cages in the barn area, each filled with a different bunch of animals: mice, ducklings, chicks, rabbits, etc, were so filthy, you couldn't see through the grime to the animals. I have absolutely no experience raising these kinds of animals, so I don't know how difficult it is to clean the windows of the cages, but it was gross and made me wonder why they even had them if the animals couldn't be seen. They also had huge cow pats on the path and didn't warn anyone before we made our way through that area, so a number of kids stepped right in them. Obviously there's going to be that kind of thing on a farm, but warning the patrons first would be handy, and responding with water or some way to clean shoes.

Since going, I've heard they do most of their business with school groups, which is why they do the tour-style. And it's easier to manage if everyone does all activities at the same time. But we were left waiting around for ages and missing out on the pony ride. It wasn't fair. They should have started on time and had late people miss the first part instead of us missing out on the latter part. They also need to decide if they're still interested in doing this kind of thing, because we got the distinct impression they're letting things go.

There are other animal farms around Sydney, and I'd encourage those above this one, unfortunately. Great hands-on with animals Unkempt, disinterested hosts, left waiting 45 minutes, we missed out on part of the experience