Family Day Out Review: Reaseheath Family Festival 100*

When we think of Reaseheath College, what comes to mind is lambing. You may have read our Days Out reviews on this event, which is one of the few times that Reaseheath College, allows non-college students to visit their amazing grounds.

However, each year they have a Family Festival celebration as a special Sunday event. This year was no exception, however, it was to mark a particularly important birthday of the college’s opening, its centenary.

Reaseheath, like many education settings, has been hugely impacted by the last two years and this celebration had been due last year, but like with many things, it was postponed.

Finally, the day came this Sunday for the celebration to commence and for everyone to be able to come to visit and experience some of the fabulous teaching and learning that takes place at Reaseheath College.

What we thought of the event and what took place on the day. 

We went as a family of five to this event and then also had my cousin and her two children accompany us for the day. When we drove in we expected the same system of parking as the lambing event, which is quite compact and allows you to drive onto the site and park close to the lambing area. However, much to our surprise, we arrived and were directed into a huge field, already filled with hundreds of cars. We were unbelievably shocked by the number of people attending the event.

Once parked up we headed to the entrance, where we were greeted by a row of friendly faces. We then proceeded to walk through to where all the main day activities were taking place. The activities of the day included; Equestrian shows, calf exhibition, a dog show, a BMX stunt spectacular, some tree cutting, and chain sawing, food and drink stalls, a huge area to picnic, and an engineering display, plus of course the zoo, which again was open and filled with an array of cute animals.

We were a little lost on arrival and hadn’t quite worked out where everything was located, so we sat down for a picnic and get our bearings. Once we had eaten and checked out the day’s itinerary, we began to pick what we would do. The first thing the children wanted to experience, was laying a brick in the construction zone.

They managed this and got a certificate at the end. We also saw a BMX show, which was great fun, and then went on to see a dog show, which was simple and fun. The activity that pleased everyone the most was the leaf bashing. Where the children got to place a leaf in between some fabric, and then hammer the leaf, to make a print of the leave. It was really effective and fun to do. We also loved watching the chainsaws in action.

Finally, we went to visit the equestrian area, where we saw a show of all the students on horses. We also got to speak with some side-saddle experts and historic style riding techniques. We learnt about the costumes they would have worn on their horses and how women in the day had to sit side-saddle with all their skirts gathered underneath them, often making it dangerous. Another fun part in this section was the space hopper racing, which my three and two cousins found so much fun. They raced for a good hour and had a blast doing it. We finished off the day with a trip around the zoo – which is open over the weekends in the spring/summer – and a delicious snow cone. We were almost the last to leave, having had such an incredible time.

There were many more events on through the day including food demonstrations; such as cake decorating and pizza making, but we didn’t make it to these areas. All were there showing off all the industry-focused learning that is available at Reaseheath. The college is a great place to learn in a way that will ensure you have a job at the end of it, and being able to attend this event was a great way to see all the possibilities available.

When can you attend events at Reaseheath College? 

There are many events throughout the year, head to their website to find out more or for the zoo opening times.

How much was Reaseheath Family Festival? 

The event was £6 for adults and £5 for children, plus family tickets were also available.

About Reaseheath College 

Reaseheath Hall was built in 1750, then after several years, it was bought by Cheshire County Council in 1919 and had its first Principle. In 1921 it finally became a School of Agriculture (for men only). In 1939 Reaseheath trained the Women’s Land Army, and in 1943 they received a Royal Commendation after training over 1000 Land Army Women.

As the years went on refurbishments and Principle changes took place, and in 1967 the school finally became Reaseheath College as we know it today. Again, in the years that follow, more areas are opened up to expand the teaching facilities that are now readily available. And each year it seems more and more variations in courses become apparent.

The College is located on a huge area of land in the small and beautiful market town of Nantwich and is surrounded by farms and industries that Reaseheath specialises in. If you would like to attend Reaseheath or find out more about it, then head here to their website.

Review by : Lex Ward

You may also want to read this:

Reaseheath College’s Lambing & Zoo Weekends 2022

Family Day Out Review: Easter Weekender at Nottingham Castle

Review: Alton Towers Festive Family Days Out

*We were provided with free entry passes to the event in return for a review. All opinions are my own.