R S & D Anderson

Welcome to Farnless Farm Park and Holiday Cottage, situated in the heart of Durham. Our farm is home to a wide variety of animals and offers a range of services, including a farm shop, holiday cottages, and educational programmes for schools and clubs. At Farnless Farm Park, we are committed to providing high-quality, locally sourced products and unique, educational experiences for all ages.

Farm Shop and Fresh Meat

Our farm shop offers a wide range of fresh, locally sourced meat, including venison and bison. Our animals are reared to the highest welfare standards, grazing on grass pastures and fed a natural diet. This results in beautifully flavoured, lean, and tender red meat, which is an excellent and healthier alternative to traditional red meats. Our products include a full range of steaks and joints, burgers, sausages, mince, and diced meat. All of our meat is 100% fresh, ensuring a flavour and tenderness that will have you coming back for more.

Wild Birds and Attractions

Farnless Farm Park is renowned for the range of wild birds it attracts over the spring and summer months. With over 120 species and counting, our park is a haven for birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts. During your visit, you may also have the opportunity to meet our other parkland animals, including our breeding herd of North American Bison and our purebred English Park Stags.

North American Bison

At Farnless Farm Park, we have our own breeding herd of North American Bison. Bison are traditionally found on the North American plains but in the late 19th century, as man settled the plains, they trimmed the population from 50 million to only a few hundred. Today, the bison are on the increase with 100,000 animals in the US. Bison are timid creatures but brought to bay, they will fight with ferocity. They can run at nearly 25mph and easily jump a 6ft fence. Once provoked, they are unstoppable, and will kill. Bison is the scientific name for Bison-Bison and is a member of the bos family, related to bovines such as domestic cattle but distinct from the true buffalo, those of Asia and Africa. English settlers on the Great Plains first used the term buffalo; it was a modification of the name "les boeufs", which early French explorers gave to Oxon or beef cattle. Visitors to the farm must not enter the bison pasture, as they require a dangerous wild animal license, and their behaviour can be unpredictable.

Red Deer

In addition to our bison, we also have a herd of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) at Farnless Farm Park. Our purebred English Park Stags are the majority of our parkland animals. During your visit, you may have the opportunity to see the stags, which may have antlers, depending on the time of year. If you visit in September, you may even hear them bark as they enter the rut. Our hand-reared calf, Henrietta, is always happy to come to the fence to say hello. Although the deer are timid, they can be dangerous, especially when they have young or are rutting. When we handle the animals, we wear stab vests as the antlers are very sharp and dangerous. Red Deer are one of the largest deer species and inhabit most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, and parts of western and central Asia. They also inhabit the Atlas Mountains region between Algeria and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being the only species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red Deer have been introduced to other areas, including New Zealand and Argentina. In many parts of the world, the meat (venison) from Red Deer is widely used as a food source. Red Deer are ruminants, characterized by an even number of toes, and a four-chambered stomach. Recent DNA evidence indicates that the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) and the East Asian and North American Elk (Wapiti) (Cervus canadensis) represent two distinct species.

Pygmy Goats

Finally, our farm is also home to Dom