Farm toys, Toy Farms, Toy Farm Yard, Traditional farm toy buildings

	WHATS HAPPENING ON THE FARM? Click on any image to see a larger version Mittens is our cat who has lived here on the farm since he was a kitten and has some great adventures. He loves to be out on the farm with us, here he is at lambing time in April, when over a 1000 lambs are born here on the farm. Steeple Chase Farm Toys is based on our family farm in Wistow, Leicestershire in a lovely area just down the road from Wistow Maze, (winner of Leicestershire’s “BEST VISITOR ATTRACTION” and Rural Centre which is a great place to visit all year round. www.wistow.com. We farm dairy, sheep, beef and arable crops. Customers are very welcome to come and collect their orders of toys, from the farm by prior arrangement.
	May was silaging time on the farm and Mittens managed to sleep though this event!. The silage is used to feed the cows and beef cattle in winter.
	Here is Mittens again, playing ‘farm’ with my children and their farm toys, playing in the 3 bay multi purpose shed - he likes to knock the cows over!
	The thoroughbred foal is the latest addition to our farm he was born on Wednesday 3rd June 2009.
	Mittens loves to sit on the ponies and they don’t mind! Here he is riding Petra my sons pony, he spends a lot of time with the ponies and likes to be in the stables with them.
	Mittens gets very dirty out on the farm sometimes, especially when he has been in the cow sheds or on the muck heap! Here he is cleaning himself on the quad bike after he has had a busy day on the farm. The quad bike is very useful on the farm to get the sheep in, and to move the sheep and lambs in spring time with the trailer on the back. It is also used to spread the slug pellets on the newly planted arable crops.
	August was combining time on the farm. With the weather being very wet it was difficult. First the barley was combined. The corn and straw will be used to feed the animals though the winter months. This is the view the driver gets from the cab of the combine. Mittens was in the cab having a look while it was being filled with diesel at the farm. Over the next few days if it doesn’t rain the Rape will be combined, this is sold and made into margarine, or used for bio fuel. When the rape is bought back to the farm from the field it has to be dried though a special drying machine as some of it is too wet. After all the rape and barley are combined, the next crop will be the wheat; some of this will be sold to Weetabix to make cereals, and also to other companies to make bread, biscuits and animal feed. This is the main arable crop on the farm.
	The combine is a very large machine, as you can see from this picture, to how small Mittens looks against it. The combine had returned to the farm for diesel when this photo was taken. This model of Claas combine is called a Tucano 430. Some larger combines can cost in excess of £300.000
	Mittens climbing down the steps from the combine cab.
	Combining the rape, it is very dusty job. Luckily the dust can not get in to the combine cab. The rape is sprayed with a special liquid, to make it die before it is combined. So it is drier when the combine picks it up.
	This picture shows the tractors with the trailers, waiting to be filled with the rape crop. The tractor at the front is a Case. On our farm we have Case and John Deere tractors.
	Please visit again for his latest adventures on the farm. Links to some interesting sites that we love! www.information-britain.co.uk www.maltkilnfarmshop.co.uk - The farm shop is part of a small family business owned and run by the Lea family near Stretton-under-Fosse, Warwickshire. www.swingsandprettythings.co.uk - Big garden, small garden or a window box on a kitchen window, whether you have room for a hammock, a picnic with lemon curd sandwiches, a house for a hedgehog, a row of peas in an old tin bath or vegetables in a window box, whatever the garden you will find something at Swings and Pretty Things to enchant and delight, from your practical needs to the whimsical must haves. www.yellowduckcreative.co.uk - Leicestershire graphic designers who are proud to have designed and continually maintain the Steeplechase Farm Toys website. www.traditionalflower.co.uk - THE TRADITIONAL FLOWER CO. is unique you won't find any mass - produced bland roses and flowers here. Their roses and flowers have been carefully selected for their wonderful scent, natural texture, true colour and fabulous shape. They GROW and sell luxury flower gifts and bouquets of the highest quality at REALISTIC PRICES for everyone to enjoy, working with the BRITISH SEASONS on their Staffordshire farm.