Spring has sprung at Chester House Estate where you can now bottle feed the lambs and enjoy an Easter egg hunt

The lambing barn at Chester House Estate is packed with 50 newborn cade lambs, several ewes and their lambs, as well as some goats and their kids –all ready to meet visitors young and old this spring.

From today (Saturday, March 25), families will be able to visit and bottle feed the lambs as part of the estate’s spring activities, which also include an Easter egg hunt and a chocolate lolly making workshop.

This year Chester House Estate is looking after a local farmer’s cade lambs.

These are lambs that cannot be fed by their mums and need help to survive and thrive.

The estate’s team expect to go through 10,000 litres of formula, and each bottle will be heated to body temperature, with the lambs set to be fed morning, noon and night.

One of the children at the lambing said: “They were so cute – the four-day-old lambs were quite weak so it’s nice that we can help them grow by feeding them.”

Visitors to The Chester House Estate will be able to visit and feed the lambs and chat to the estate’s expert livestock team from today to Monday, May 1 (weekends and school holidays only).

Alongside the lamb’s arrival, the estate has stocked up on more than 9,000 Easter eggs which children will receive after taking part in the spring treasure hunt.

Lauren Payne, a parent who visited the estate, said: “The afternoon was so family friendly, I brought my step-daughter and she loved being in charge of feeding the lambs.

"She left with a chocolate treat so she’s a very happy girl.”

Another new spring addition this year is the estate’s dog-friendly Easter hunt.

For £5 visitors are invited to bring their furry friends along to hunt for a series of giant wooden dog bones, which will dotted across the estate.

At the end of each treasure hunt all the four-legged friends will receive a seasonal doggy treat.

Also, back for a second year is the estate’s late night one-hour Cade Lamb Feeding Experience, running at 5pm and 9pm.

The Northants Telegraph was invited along for the launch of this year’s spring activities and our two young volunteers couldn’t wait to get started!

First up was the chocolate lolly making workshop, where the children were able to spoon on the melted chocolate before decorating it with sweets and leaving it to set while they headed off to the lambing barn (after washing their hands of course).

You couldn’t help but fall in love with the little lambs, some of them just days old, snuggling up to each other for warmth and comfort.

After a few snaps at the selfie board, we were armed with a bottle of milk and sat on the hay bales to give them some of the white stuff.

There’s something quite joyous about seeing baby animals like this and being able to feed them – as well as seeing the joy in a one-year-old’s eyes witnessing this for the first time.

Once we’d had our fill of feeding, it was off to find the wooden eggs with letters written on them hidden around the estate.

This was a great opportunity to enjoy the spring sunshine and burn off some energy with the promise of chocolate at the end of it.

While our two pre-schoolers were a bit too young to work out the secret word, they still loved getting stuck in and it’s a great way to explore and enjoy the beautiful countryside here.

After some swinging and climbing in the play area, it was back to collect our chocolate lollies and head to the shop to claim our Easter egg prizes.

It was such a lovely way to spend a few hours getting some fresh air and exploring the estate, and I am sure the team will be kept busy over the coming weeks with families heading out for some spring fun.

Visit https://chesterhouseestate.org/spring-at-the-estate-2023/ for more details.

Costs

Families: The Spring Passport at Chester House Estate is £15 and includes a cade lamb feeding session, giant Easter Egg Hunt and a time allocated chocolate workshop ticket.

Accompanying adults do not need to buy a ticket.

Dog treasure trail: For this event the cost is £5 per dog, with £2 of each ticket being donated to animal welfare charity Blue Cross.

To allow staff to manage the estate’s capacity and stagger arrivals, all guests are being asked to pre-book their spring passport (or a Dog Friendly Easter Hunt pass).

Chester House Estate is overseen by North Northamptonshire Council and opened to the public in October 2021 following an extensive £17m Nationally Lottery Heritage Funded restoration project.