Plan your visit to the Award-Winning Ark Open Farm Newtownards

Visit The Ark Farm

We are delighted to welcome you to The Ark Farm in 2026 and invite you to experience our newly refurbished café
and our incredible bespoke playpark – the only one of its kind in Northern Ireland. 

Meet the animals

A farm favourite! Our newly renovated Animal Encounters barn where you can meet and pet a variety of animals with sessions throughout the day. This could include our rabbits and guinea pigs through to a gecko or hissing cockroach.

Dragons Den play Area

Set right beside our fairytale forest and Jurassic Trail, our Dragons Den Play Area offers great climbing and opportunities. It's also set right beside picnic areas which proves popular with family groups spending the day on our farm!

New Play Area

We are excited to welcome you to our play area which we invested in ahead of Spring/Summer 2025. It has slides, swings, sand digger, a zip line and lots of climbing and exploring opportunities which are sure to thrill.

FairyTale Forest & Jurassic Ark

Explore our land of dinosaurs and fairy houses. Once you arrive you'll see our wide range of dinosaurs on our trail and then you can walk across to visit our fairy houses, three little pigs, Rapunzel's tower and Goldilocks.

Jumping Pillow

On dry days our bouncy rainbow pillows are always a huge hit. Even toddlers can join in the fun as it is safely placed at ground level! Our pillow is a truly unique experience and make for great photos of you, your family and friends defying gravity!
Remember to bring your socks!

Barrel Rides

Hold onto your hats and get ready to have some serious fun on our barrel rides. We have an upgraded track which has been designed to add to the thrill with some bumps and wobbles to enjoy - great fun for adults and kids alike! 1 FREE ride for every child!

Ride On Tractors​

Go for a spin on our pedal tractors in our undercover polytunnel. We have tractors to suit toddlers through younger primary school-aged children. They love going through our tunnel, topping up their 'petrol' at our pump and going over our mini ramp!

Tractor Ride

Love tractors? Tired feet? In a hurry to get to our dinosaurs and fairies? Our tractor ride is a fun and speedy way to get from one side of our 40 acre farm to the other. You can even bring your buggy on board.

Outdoor Play

At The Ark Open Farm, there’s no shortage of outdoor adventure! Our bespoke playpark is designed for endless fun. It features two exciting zones – one for older children to climb high, take on thrilling challenges, and zoom down our tunnel slide, and another specially designed for little ones, complete with a sand play area, a fantastic climbing frame, and a mini slide.

But the fun doesn’t stop there! Our much-loved hill slide and vibrant rainbow bouncing pillow are still here to enjoy. Plus, as you explore our Fairytale Forest and Jurassic Ark, you’ll discover a magical dragon-themed play area… perfect for little adventurers.

With so much to see and do, there’s something for everyone to enjoy at The Ark Open Farm!

Food & Drinks

Our Café has a delicious homemade, hearty food offering and a modern, cosy and welcoming interior.  At peak times you can also enjoy our Horse Box coffee truck, and Ice Cream Hut at The Ark Farm.

We are proud of our homemade offering including hearty soups, stews and delicious sandwiches with the freshest local ingredients. Of course, we cater for children with more simple eating preferences like chicken nuggets, fish fingers and sausages too! Our traybakes are made on-site and we serve locally roasted coffee too!

Horse Box Coffee Truck and Ice Cream Hut are open on select weekends and days during our peak season. 

Ark Farm Map

The Ark Farm is spread over 100 acres of beautiful countryside and it is most definitely bigger than meets the eye!

We will give you a map of our farm and information leaflet on arrival but you can also view today’s activities here.

The Ark Farm is home to over 200 animals