You know me, I’m always on the lookout for something new to do with my daughter around Victoria. So that’s why I was pleased with myself that I remembered the strip of great farms along Oldfield Road in Central Saanich the other day, as one of them turned out to be a nice little family destination.
Dan’s Farm and Country Market is a place I’d been to before, but it’s been a few years. I didn’t remember that they had farm animals there, or maybe they are a new addition since I had a visit. At any rate, not only was Dan’s a great place to buy some fresh local strawberries for some homemade jam-making (we now have 15 yummy jars set aside to coast us through the winter) but it provided some animal entertainment for us to boot.
The farm offers visitors a chance to stroll amongst some good-looking chickens and peer over the fence at some noisy but friendly goats. A few strides away sat a crowing rooster and a large hutch of rabbits, looking so soft and cuddly that even I couldn’t help but let out an audible, “awww, cute!” Chelsea was delighted by everything, and loved the child-sized picnic table almost as much as the animals.
Of course the real excitement of the afternoon was ordering ice cream in the market and sitting there licking our cones away to our heart’s content. Faced with a plethora of flavours that I started to read out to her, Chelsea’s choice was plain vanilla. Of course, I had to have a cone of my own as to not make her eat ice cream alone…that would be too cruel!
Dan’s is worth a visit if you have kids that like ice cream or animals (which maybe describes a few!) and want an excuse for a little country car ride. Bring a quarter to feed the goats using their tiny-truck-on-a-pulley system. It wasn’t working when we were there but that didn’t stop the goats from kicking up a fuss that they wanted some eats when we neared it!
Shades of Bliss 