Top 10 UK farm-stay holidays

Mark the turning of the seasons with a getaway down on the farm. Many offer fresh-from-the-field food, some let you (or the kids) feed the animals, and all offer a great dose of fresh air

Brackenborough Hall farm, Lincolnshire

Brackenborough Hall Farm, Lincolnshire

A moated manor house is at the heart of this biodiverse farm, but the accommodation is in three smart apartments in a converted 18th-century coach house. The lofty Granary features beamed and vaulted ceilings and inner workings of the original clock tower; and the Saddle Room and Stables makes use of old hay racks, feed troughs, mangers and herringbone stone or brick floors. The apartments sleep three to 12 people, or rent all three for a party of up to 24. Owners Paul and Flora Bennett offer complementary Lincolnshire plum bread from nearby Louth market and free guided tours of the estate – 800 acres of cattle-grazed parkland, oak woodlands and wildlife (roe deer, rabbits, barn owls and a rich variety of birds; hawthorn, sloe and blackthorn berries decorate the hedges in autumn). The manor also boasts Victorian kitchen gardens, a grass tennis court and a deserted medieval village.
• 01507 603193, brackenboroughhall.com. Self-catering from £340 a week for three or four to £655 for eight (short breaks also available)

Bre-Pen Farm, Cornwall

On a cliff, overlooking the sea at Mawgan Porth, Rod and Jill Brake's diverse north-coast farm sits on 60 acres of National Trust land. As well as farmhouse B&B, they run a tea-room (home-baked cakes and cream teas) and a farmshop (try Bre-Pen's own lamb and mint sausages, salads and seasonal vegetables and free-range eggs). At weekends, young chef Jon Harvey (ex Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall) runs the farm's bistro – £20 for three courses and bring your own wine. It's not the prettiest of farmhouses but the location – between Newquay and Padstow – is magic. Just sit in a field of sheep and gawp at the Atlantic. Take a Land Rover farm safari. You can get married here, too.
• 01637 860420, bre-penfarm.co.uk. B&B from £40 a night singles, £70 double, £99 family suite

Nettlecombe Farm, Isle of Wight

Populated with donkeys, alpacas, reindeer, goats, Buff Orpington hens, a goose called Gordon and peacock called Percy, this isn't your run-of-the-mill livestock farm – but it's set in 150 acres of peaceful South Wight countryside and it's heaven for kids. The farm's nine, family-size self-catering properties includes a stone cottage, a converted milking parlour and a farmhouse. As well as grassy play areas (furnished with a Wendy house and wooden tractor), there are three fishing lakes, access to cycle routes and some great walks (bring your own dog). Glorious views and only 10 minutes' drive from seaside Ventnor.
• 01983 730783, nettlecombefarm.co.uk. Self-catering cottages of various sizes, from £300 a week (sleeps four) or £545 (sleeps eight), low season (off-season short breaks available)

Smallicombe, Devon

Berkshires and Middle Whites – among other rare breed pigs – are the speciality of Smallicombe, a 70-acre livestock farm which has its own woodland, between Sidmouth and Lyme Regis on the Devon-Dorset border, just a few miles from the Jurassic Coast. Guests get pork sausages and the farm's own bacon for breakfast, evening meals (with home-grown vegetables), broods of piglets, plus woolly Dorset Down sheep, Ruby Devon cattle and occasional courses on pig-keeping. You can wonder around the farm and help feed the pigs or chickens. Accommodation includes adults-only grown-up suites in a wing of the farmhouse (complete with roll-top tubs and tongue and groove), a two-bedroom family room and four outhouse cottages.
• 01404 831310, smallicombe.com. Doubles from £70 per night B&B, self-catering from £195 per week for two; two-course dinner £17.95 a head, by prior arrangement

Glenkilrie, Perth

The farmhouse, like a mini baronial castle, presides over 2,500 acres of heather, grazing sheep and Limousin cows (some of Glenkilrie's beef ends up in M&S). The rooms are homely (lots of pine, primrose paint and floral prints) and the breakfast is wholesome – fresh eggs, local bacon and homemade marmalade served in a traditional family dining room. You are free to roam the farm, but according to farmer Morag Houstoun, most people come for the Highland scenery, the wildlife (you can spot deer and red squirrels from your bedroom window) and local attractions, including Glenshee Ski Cente, the Cairngorms, and the castles of Perthshire and Royal Deeside. Blairgowrie, the nearest town, is 13 miles away.
• 01250 882241,glenkilrie.co.uk. B&B from £25pp

Nannerth Farm, Powys

This is farm diversification with knobs on. In the beautiful Wye Valley, the farm offers an apartment, two cottages, a gypsy caravan, wild camping (just you and the elements – no loo, no shower, no Wi-Fi), VW camper-van hire, and a "dog stay cabin" (for canine guests). The Gallagher family still find the time to manage 200 acres of hay meadows and Welsh mountain ewes. A conservation farm, it's all organic, partly powered by green energy and rich in wildlife. Regular hands-on breaks offer weekends of animal feeding and farmhouse breakfasts. From a treehouse hide, you can also try a bit of nocturnal badger-watching.
• 01597 811121, nannerth.co.uk/nf. Self-catering from £207 per week for two, £304 for four or £389 for six; three-night autumn breaks available

Moor Court Farm, Ledbury, Herefordshire

This 15th-century house is timber-framed with rustic oak beams; the Godsall family have tended its 500 acres since the 1920s, and they still grow cereals and rear livestock. Fields of hops – a Herefordshire staple – are almost a thing of the past in this hilly Welsh border county, but there are two traditional hop kilns in the yard. Stay in a poshed-up farmhouse bedroom (one has a four-poster), dine on Moor Court beef and lamb or local game and try a spot of autumn apple-picking (the farm's own orchards grow fruit for Weston's local organic ciders).
• 01531 670408, moorcourtfarm.co.uk. B&B from £35pp sharing or £40 single; evening meal from £19 a head

Church Farm, Suffolk

There are chickens and a pony, but the mainstays of this East Anglian farm are fruit and forestry: in summer until October, raspberries and strawberries; in autumn, tons of apples and pears; in winter, Christmas trees. Paul and Ruth Williamson's flinty farmhouse offers two lovely rooms (a double and a twin) – both lushed up with goose down duvets, Egyptian cotton, antique beds and handmade soaps. For breakfast, Ruth serves fresh eggs cooked on the Aga and seasonal home-grown fruit and for afternoon tea she offers home-made cakes and scones. For dinner, there's a decent village pub – The Manger in Bradfield Combust, just down the road.
• 01284 386333, churchfarm-bandb.co.uk. Doubles from £70 B&B

Yew Tree Farm, Cumbria

Yew Tree Farm, near Coniston, Cumbria. Photograph: Alamy Set against a backdrop of craggy Lakeland fells, this 17th-century farmhouse near Coniston was owned by Beatrix Potter before she left it to the National Trust. In the 1930s, Miss Potter (the farm played a starring role in the movie) helped her tenants weather an economic downturn by suggesting they open a tearoom. She even bought the furniture. But though the furniture is still there the tearoom was recently closed. Jon Watson, today's tenant farmer, now supports his heritage meat business by letting his Grade II-listed farmhouse – all dark oak panelling, real fires, cruck-frame beams and patchwork quilts combined with rain showers and a hot tub. On the farm's 700 acres, discover sloping meadows of Swaledale and Herdwick sheep, big fluffy cows and spectacular views. In October, you can see Jon take his "tups", or mountain rams, to market in nearby Broughton-in-Furness.
• 015394 32321, yewtree-farm.com. Self-catering from £575 a week (sleeps six)

Lovesome Hill Farm, North Yorkshire

Mary and John Pearson's farm overlooks the Hambleton Hills from 165 acres of sheep-dotted fields, orchards and gardens between North Yorkshire's Moors and Dales national parks. There is one farmhouse guest room, another in a cosy cottage and four more in a converted granary – all very traditional (oak, beams, pine, upholstery). Walkers or cyclists can doss in a dorm-style bunk barn (Wainwright's coast-to-coast path skirts the southern edge of the farm). Aga-cooked breakfasts and evening meals include Lovesome's own eggs, bacon, beef and lamb, homemade breads, cakes, apple juice and jams. And you are invited to help collect eggs or join a spring lambing break.
• 01609 772311, lovesomehillfarm.co.uk Doubles from £72 B&B, bunk-barn beds from £11pp; dinner from £12.50-£25 a head