Those working at an independent Nottinghamshire farm can all agree on one thing - it's rarely uneventful. With hundreds of animals and, on a sunny day, lots of visitors, 'no day is ever the same' at Floralands Farm Park.
Floralands is located on Catfoot Lane, Lambley, and has been run by Hollie Steptoe since 2017. Visitors can expect to see goats, pigs, donkeys, chickens, llamas and more - the farm is even home to skunks.
On a site which is also home to many other separate independent businesses too, there’s a cafe, gift shop, garden shop and more.
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The farm which currently has five members of staff is also home to one of the UK’s only diabetic pigs. Hollie, whose family owned a farm growing up said: “Currently we have 278 animals here. One of our oldest animals is Flo, she’s a 20-year-old goat.
“Flo has a phantom pregnancy every year but she’s too old to have babies now, she is a good mum to the rest of the goats, though. Our youngest animals are six week old ducks.”
Hollie continued: “A lot of our animals are rescued from places that were getting rid of in lockdown.”
Floraland is an independent farm open seven days a week. It relies heavily on the sunny days in the year as not many people come when there’s bad weather.
Under 2’s can go into the farm free of charge - for anyone else it’s a £5 fee and £1 extra for any extras. Hollie added: “People sometimes think this is a really easy job and all you have to do is make sure the animals are fed, watered and cared for but there’s a lot of routine that goes into this.
“It doesn’t work as a 9-5 job. We’ve been here from 7 in the morning until 3 in the morning the next day before.”
Minnie the pig is one of two pigs in the UK to have diabetes. With another pig in Cambridge that has the same condition, Hollie said: “At 6 weeks old, it was touch and go for Minnie, there were many visits to the vets but there’s no research on pigs with diabetes.”
After trials of insulin, this was successful for Minnie. With hundreds of animals at the farm, it isn’t Minnie people are frightened of.
Hollie said: “Everyone’s scared of the llamas because of how tall they are but they are the most docile animals.”
One funny, standout story Hollie remembers was the time a skunk sprayed her. Despite many showers Hollie couldn’t get the smell of green pepper, plastic and burnt rubber out of her hair!
Jodie Pasquill has worked on the farm for four years.
Jodie started off at work experience which turned into a job for her. Jodie spoke about the best part of the job: “There are days when you get new animals, they’re always exciting. We get new lambs once a year, I like those days.”
Jodie added: “No day is ever the same.” One of Jodie’s favourite animals is ‘Cheese’ one of the guinea pigs.
Floraland Farm Park is open everyday 10am-4pm.
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