When a Portsmouth family wants green space, animals and room to run that the island city cannot quite provide, Staunton Country Park is the short drive north that answers it. Sitting on the edge of Havant, a handful of miles out of the city, it rolls together a working family farm, a Regency landscape of lake and follies and a set of restored Victorian glasshouses, which is a lot of different days out on one site.
Farm animals and family days
The heart of a family visit is Staunton Farm, a paid attraction where the pens and paddocks are full of the usual much-loved suspects, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens and, the children’s favourites, the llamas and alpacas. There is feeding and handling through the day, indoor barns for when the weather turns and plenty of space for small legs to tire themselves out. “The kids spent an hour just watching the goats and would not leave,” one parent wrote, which is the whole point of a day like this.
A Regency landscape to roam
Beyond the farm, the wider park is a genuine piece of history. It was laid out in the early nineteenth century for Sir George Staunton, a well-travelled scholar who dotted the grounds with ornamental follies, including the Beacon tower, and planted the gardens and glasshouses that survive today. There is a lake to circle, parkland to picnic in and restored Victorian glasshouses with a famous old grape vine, and the gardens hold partner status with the Royal Horticultural Society. It is a place to wander as much as to visit.
Getting there, hours and cost
Staunton is on Middle Park Way in Havant, just off the main roads and about twenty minutes from the centre of Portsmouth by car. The farm opens daily from 10am, closing at 5pm in the summer half of the year and 4pm in the winter, and the farm attraction charges admission, so it is worth checking the current prices before you set off. Havant railway station is close by and buses stop near the entrance, so it works without a car too.
Worth the short trip out
For a change from the seafront and the museums, Staunton is one of the easiest escapes from the city, close enough for a half day and big enough for a whole one. It slots naturally into a run of things to do in Portsmouth with kids, especially on a dry day when everyone needs space and fresh air, while the Blue Reef Aquarium back on the seafront is the indoor animal fix for a wet one. Bring wellies for the children, a picnic for the parkland, and let the animals and the open ground do the rest.
