Both of my children adore animals, so visiting some kind of farm or zoo usually happens on our days out. Recently Chris had a day off work so we both took Ivy our 2-year-old out for the day, and headed to Curly Tails Pig Sanctuary during one of their open days to meet the pigs.
Before visiting Curly Tails I’d been following them on Facebook for some time. They aren’t open daily like other places to visit in Milton Keynes but have several open days throughout the year where you can book to visit – usually around the school holidays or weekends.
Curly Tails is a charity that rescues unwanted pigs and helps to provide them with a happy place to be cared for. There are over 30 different pigs at the sanctuary, most of which can be hand-fed and petted over the fences.
Once we arrived at Curly Tails we were greeted by one of the volunteers and they explained to us how everything was set up and handed us all a treat bucket each – these are made up of food for the pigs which you’re able to feed them. You receive one with each ticket, and you can buy extras for £1 each.
You’re then left to roam around the pig sanctuary at your own pace and feed the pigs. Ivy absolutely loved feeding all of the pigs, but watch out some are greedier than others! My favourite was a pig called Winnie, who followed us around his pen to try and get more treats!
As you walk around the pens you’ll see lots of information about the pigs, including lots of interesting facts. There were lots of things I learnt about pigs – like I didn’t know pigs could dream, or that they could remember things like humans do.
Each pig has their own little house with their names on in their pen, and loads of space and mud! We had a great time walking around meeting them all, there are so many different varieties of pigs here.
There are not just pigs at Curly Tails – we were also able to meet some guinea pigs which one of the volunteers kindly got out for us to stroke. At the main entrance of Curly Tails, we also met several chickens who had also been rescued and were cared for here too.
We had such a great time during our visit to Curly Tails, we spent about 90 minutes here taking our time to feed all the pigs and visit the smaller animals too. We at no point felt rushed to finish our visit and could spend as long as we wanted during our timeslot. All of the volunteers here were lovely and were more than happy to talk to us, explain about the pigs and answer any of our questions. We even had a chat with the owner about how the pig sanctuary was originally founded, and we got to hear some of the stories about the pigs and how they had come to live at Curly Tails. It felt like a much more personal touch compared to visiting a farm.
Curly Tails is a completely non-funded charity that doesn’t receive any funding for animal care, so rely on donations and these visits to help towards the cost of caring for the pigs. If you would be interested in helping towards the cost of running the pig sanctuary please consider visiting, or donating to them through their website.
We’ll certainly be visiting again on one of their open days again, and will bring our 11-year-old along as well as this is something he would love. At Christmas time they also run a Santa’s Grotto where you can come meet Santa and the pigs too!
How to Find it
Curly Tails can be found in the Newton Longville area of Milton Keynes, the best postcode to use is MK17 0BH, use the map below for directions. There is parking on site.
Good to Know
- Curly Tails Pig Sanctuary is a small charity, so isn’t open to the public on a daily basis
- It’s best to keep an eye on their appointments page to book a visit
- When open, Curly Tails is open from 10am – 3pm, and you’re welcome to stay as long as you want during your visit
- Everything is outside and it can get quite muddy, so much sure to dress appropriately!
- There is a small shop selling drinks, snacks and gifts.
