I spent the day at Farmer Copleys - and I can see why it's one of the UK's best farm attractions

Located just off Pontefract Road is Ravensknowle Farm, known to many as Farmer Copleys.

The local attraction, ran by Pontefract power couple, Heather and Rob Copley, has become a firm favourite within Yorkshire with their often being unique events and activities hosted across the land throughout the year.

For a while, I’ve wanted to visit as I’ve heard wonderful things and have seen the thousands of five star reviews left on Google.

Having recently acquired a car, I aimed to visit over spring.

However, upon visiting their website and seeing their flower fields, and the tulip picking they’re hosting this week, I decided that the sooner I went the better.

From their website, I learnt all about the history of the farm.

The Copley family has been farming for over 140 years, starting with Grandma Rachel in North Featherstone with just one pig and a cow.

Decades later, in 1967, Earnest Copley bought Ravensknowle Farm and his family moved into the cottage next door.

Later, in 2003, Earnest’s descendant, Robert and his wife, Heather came back to Yorkshire, via Cheshire, from their careers in Dorset to have a family.

This was with the intention of bringing their children up on the farm and to avoid the farm been sold, by building the farm shop and diversifying the farm.

Over 20 years later and the farm, which now also has an award-winning farm shop and cafe, has become a staple within the region – with people travelling from across the country to visit.

I decided that now was the perfect chance to visit and have a wonderful day out with my partner, whilst picking my favourite flowers – hoping to see if the attraction was as good as I’ve heard.

Not only that, but the farm is dog-friendly, which was an unexpected but great surprise, as it meant we could take our very cheeky miniature sausage dog with us.

So, on Thursday (April 25) we got dressed in our comfiest clothes, with extra layers due to the deceivingly cold weather, and drove down to Farmer Copleys.

Upon arriving at around 11am, the farm seemed reasonably busy, yet, despite this, it didn’t feel crowded in any way.

We instantly headed to the flower field, which was located to the east of the main buildings.

There, were rows upon rows of beautiful tulips and daffodils – covering the land in an abundance of incredible colours.

Both my partner and I payed £7 each for a small glass vase, which allowed us to pick six flowers from the vast field each.

We must have spent over an hour in this wonderful field, as despite the picking limit, exploring the area proved to be one of the best parts of the day.

The rows and rows of reds, oranges and white flowers created a sense of harmony among the small windmill statue, that made for a great photo opportunity.

I settled on creating a bouquet of warm, summer colours whilst my partner chose the tulips with colours he hadn’t seen before – including one decribed as a new santa tulip, which was an elegant red that faded into a snowy white at the tips.

Even our pup, enjoyed exploring the fields – with her leaping from row to row, sniffing each flower.

After filling our vases, we headed back to the farm with the aim of getting some lunch – admiring and picking your own tulips is suprisingly tiring, especially when you have an 11-month puppy trying to zoom through the flowers!

For lunch, we visited the attraction’s Moo Cafe – a stunning restaurant that had that old timely charm.

From the extensive, and delicious looking menu, I chose a lasagna whilst my partner got a burger – both of which were incredible.

I have to commend the service here, as despite us being the only table outside, we were looked after and weren’t made to feel like a burden.

After lunch, our next stop was one of the main reasons I’ve been wanting to visit Farmer Copleys - their award-winning farm shop.

With hundreds of great products and home-grown items, I struggled with not spending too much!

From squeeze-your-own fresh juices, a cheesemongers and even a bee apiary where fresh honey was being made – this farm shop was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

I had to help myself to some of the fresh strawberries, as well as sweet treat in the form of a fantastic rocky road – whilst my boyfriend picked up a bottle of sweet mustard ketchup which a staff member said was one of their bestsellers due to it being used in many of the cafe’s dishes.

The very kind butcher shared his recommendations, whilst offering my pup the finest mince from their meat selection – which she very much appreciated.

From there, we got the salt and pepper chicken, which we later had for dinner and, as expected, it was great!

Upon leaving the farm shop, after spending way too much time in there, the sun had finally come out for good – with the temperature also increasing.

So we decided to walk around the surrounding fields whilst eating the sweet, juicy strawberries.

We walked up to the pumpkin fields where, in October, we will definitely return to pick our own pumpkin, as well as back over to the tulip field to appreciate it one last time.

Reflecting on the amazing day, it is clear to see why Farmer Copleys is such a regional favourite and why it has won so many awards.

From the phenomenal farm shops, to the special events they host like the tulip picking, there really is something for everyone – including pets!

To find out what’s on at Farmer Copleys this spring, visit: https://farmercopleys.co.uk/