Quince Honey Farm, South Molton, Devon

One thing you can be sure of at Quince Honey Farm in South Molton, Devon, is a warm welcome. I went with my mum and three children – aged one, four and nine – and we were greeted by a lovely lady as we went in, who handed us leaflets about what was on and where to go. The kids got free bee pencils too, and an activity book that required using information given around the displays to fill them in – perfect for the eldest.

We latched on to a small guided tour which was very informative and would be perfect for school outings as it was very well set out with lots to look at. However, my four year old was getting a bit restless so we decided to wander on our own and found lots of fascinating bee-related exhibits with interactive buttons to push and handles to turn, and were also greeted by a roaring bear which made my mother jump out of her skin!

We still hadn’t seen all we wanted to see so decided to look at the exhibitions of other insects. We loved the leaf eating ants marching along in rows carrying bits of leaf on their backs. On the way out we spent sometime in the Quince Honey Farm shop which had everything imaginable to do with bees.

There was a brilliant soft play area for the children to let off steam and also, very thoughtfully, a separate safe play area for smaller children. There was a café in the area too, with excellent sandwiches, good coffee, and even cream teas, as well as delicious hot food. I noticed that Quince Honey Farm also caters for birthday parties.

There’s so much to do at Quince Honey Farm that we didn’t have time to see everything. There was a museum which exhibited old bee keeping equipment, for example, where you can see the “bee beard show” on Fridays throughout the summer. There was also an outside Bee Play Hive and play area, but sadly it was too wet to appreciate that on our visit.