💷 Free entry
St James City Farm
Free community farm in the heart of Gloucester with rare breed animals, pony rides and hands-on encounters for young children.
✦ We visited
A surprisingly well-stocked farm for a community city-centre site. The rare breeds give it a quality that free entry alone would not justify, and the informality of the place works well with very young children who can take their time and come back to the same animals more than once.
St James City Farm is a community farm on Albany Street in Gloucester that is free to visit every day of the year. Run by volunteers and a small staff team, it keeps a genuinely impressive range of rare breed animals on a compact site that is easy to manage with young children.
The animals are the draw. Dexter cattle, Cotswold Lion sheep, Golden Guernsey and Pygmy goats, Saddleback pigs, Bagot goats, a retired Welsh Pony, chickens and ducks, rabbits and guinea pigs all have pens around the site. The farm is deliberately hands-on: children can get close to the animals, and for a small additional charge there are animal feeding sessions and pony rides that make the visit a proper experience for toddlers rather than simply watching through a fence.
Because entry is free, it works just as well as an unplanned stop as a planned day out. The site is compact, which suits families with young children who tire quickly, and the calm pace of the place is a contrast to the busier farm parks in the region. Gloucester Docks and the National Waterways Museum are a short walk away, and the city centre is just beyond, making it easy to combine into a longer day in Gloucester.
Good for: animals, outdoors, sensory, send-friendly. Ages: 0–2, 3–4, 5–7, 8–11.
Good to know
Is St James City Farm really free?
Yes, entry to the farm is free every day. A small charge applies for hands-on sessions such as animal feeding and pony rides.
What animals can we see at St James City Farm?
The farm keeps Dexter cattle, Cotswold Lion sheep, Golden Guernsey and Pygmy goats, Saddleback pigs, Bagot goats, a retired Welsh Pony, poultry, rabbits and guinea pigs.
Is there parking at St James City Farm?
There is street parking on Albany Street and the surrounding roads; Gloucester city centre car parks are around ten minutes on foot.
