This weekend we made a last minute decision to go and visit the farm La Gavotte just outside Geneva. I had seen an advert for it on Facebook but had forgotten about it until Saturday. I am so glad I remembered as it was a really great outing.
There isn’t a huge amount of parking along the road leading up to the farm (and no disabled places we noted) but we were fortunately able to squeeze in and stroll the short distance up to the farm.
It’s such a charming place and surrounded by the colours of Autumn, it was really lovely. It’s a busy farm and we saw lots of beautiful horses, as well as rabbits, sheep, goat and pigs all easily accessible and visible from the paths. We were hoping that Jude would be able to go for a ride on one of the ponies but we arrived too late in the day and all the spaces were taken. There is a small cafe serving snacks and we saw that it was possible to host children’s parties there which we thought would be cool.
Behind the cafe we entered the field where there were picnic tables set amongst the Shetland ponies, sheep and goats trotting about. We were really happy to be able to get close to the animals and Jude and Alba were brave enough to come into the goat enclosure with me where we were quickly surrounded by lots of excitable goats. Jude was rather anxious about all but the baby goats but Alba had no such qualms and went to introduce her to even the biggest in the bunch before trying to steal (and eat 😖) their bread. Even Elio made some friends with Jean in the field outside where the sheep approached him to nuzzle his hands.
We took a walk down to the bottom of the field then back up to explore some of the pens behind the main path. I think I saw that it was possible to buy food to give to the animals which would be a nice experience for the children. We all loved the Shetland ponies and Alba became especially fond of a large, rugged looking ram with huge horns who she insisted on following and saying goodbye to...many, many times!
As closing time was approaching we decided to head home but we’ll definitely go back as there was still more to see and Jude won’t forget about his pony ride :-).
Oh, I almost forgot, since it is part of a association there is no fee to enter La Gavotte. Good eh?
Information
Parking : Yes (small)
Toilets : Yes
Baby Change Facilities : No
Accessibility : Yes suitable for pushchairs