Lunan Bay Goats in Coats Farm Tour with Goat Cuddles

The wait is over... Meet our legendary Goats in Coats this Easter! Marvel at our mischievous herd of 150 baby goats in hand-knitted jumpers.

This Easter, we’re opening the doors of our Lunan Bay Farm Goat Nurseries for the first time, on Sat 1st April, Sun 2nd April and Sun 9th April, for you to enjoy the antics of our famous Goats in Coats! An unique opportunity to marvel in person at our internet sensations; 150 baby goats wearing colourful jumpers, lovingly hand-knitted by our caring community. What started as a loving way to keep our smaller newborns cosy, has now exploded with knitters far and wide sending us their latest Goat Coat creations!

Spring time is an exciting time in our farming calendar as its kidding season here at Lunan Bay Farm. We, farmers Jillian and Neil McEwan got into goats 8 years ago and never looked back! Such characterful and inquisitive creatures. We know first hand what a delight our goats are so it was time to share the goat therapy with you.

During your visit, explore our indoor kidding shed, consisting of multiple goat nurseries where Mums’ keep their watchful eyes over their mischievous kids, whilst they have fun in their playpens, sleep in their tyres and play with their pals. Look out for this year's standout kids; Big Frank the Cashmere, Fiona the Boer and flamboyant Freddie. Enjoy lots of goat cuddles with our super soft Miniature Scottish Cashmere and Boer kids, whilst having your photo taken in the Selfie Spot. Feed and pet our friendly Mums, who love a special treat, especially Bonnie, Lunan and Goldie.

There is the option to head outside and guess "Who's the Daddy?", when you meet our herd of male breeding goats including the legend that is Che Goatvara, our Scottish Cashmere buck and Shetland Davie, our small but mighty Pygmy. By Easter, some of our kids will be frolicking about outside for the first time, which is another wonder to behold. You can meet our Miniature Cashmere kids, which are involved in our farm education programs, called Goat Getters.

Farmers Jillian and Neil, our young stockperson Maddie and the rest of tour team will be on hand to tell you all about our goats; the environmental benefits they bring to our farm, the fantastic Cashmere fibre that they produce which we turn into beautiful garments and what is it like to spend every day tending to goats.

Along with helping to provide farm education, our goats produce Scottish Cashmere, a luxurious fibre that we hand-comb every Spring to produce homegrown sustainable yarn and clothing. We have teamed up with local spinner and natural fibre expert, Fred Porchez of Wish Ewe Were Here, who will be on hand during your visit to discuss all things fibre, will be demonstrating how to spin our Cashmere and have a range of beautiful fibre and yarn available (Fred will be there on 2nd and 9th April, but not on the 1st April).

Important information you need to know before you book

Tickets are £8 per person, for all adults and children over the age of 2 years old. Infants under 2 years are free of charge. 

Your ticket allows you access for one hour in the kidding shed with goat cuddles. Please arrive at our kidding shed your allocated hour slot. There is the option to visit our goats outside at their fields too, where you can take your time to enjoy watching them play at your leisure.

Goat Feed

When you arrive, you will be given the option to buy bags of goat feed, if you would like to feed our goats. The cost per bag is £1 and cash is preferable, please. There are instructions at each feeding station on how to feed our goats safely.

Health & Safety

There is a minimal risk of disease transmission between livestock and humans, therefore all visitors MUST wash their hands before and after visiting our farm, using our handwash facilities and disinfect the soles of their shoes/boots using our foot mats provided. As you are required to dip your soles in our disinfectant foot mats before and after entering our kidding sheds, appropriate footwear is required. Warm clothing is recommended as our kidding sheds are large well ventilated barns with open doors, plus the tour continues outside to meet our goats in their fields.

If you are pregnant or there is a possibility that you might be pregnant we cannot permit you access to our farm, under Scottish Government advice regarding the increased zoonotic risk birthing livestock and offspring may be to pregnant women

Location

Our kidding sheds are located on our family farm at Myreside Farm in Inverkeilor. We NOT located at our other site at Lunan Bay. Please type in "RT McEwan Arbroath" into Google Maps and it will take you direct to us.

We have no catering facilities onsite and eating or drinking is not permitted anywhere onsite to minimise the potential health risk to our animals. There are some good catering options nearby. Smoking is not permitted anywhere on our farm.

Facilities Onsite

There is good disabled access onsite. Our kidding shed is accessible for wheelchairs and we have a disabled toilet onsite. There is the option to visit goats outside too. There is a wide gravel track which leads you to our goat paddocks.

There is free parking at our farm. Please consider car sharing, if possible. Our stewards will guide you safely to your park spot upon arrival and will assist you leaving our farm. There are toilets (inc. disabled) onsite too. There are regular buses that stop at Inverkeilor, our nearby village, which is only a 2 minute walk from our farm.

Souvenirs

Chocolate Goat Poop

Our goats play an important role in regenerating the land by improving soil health, increasing biodiversity and lowing the carbon footprint. Amongst others, one way our goats make these environmental benefits is through naturally fertilising the soil via their goat poop. To remind you of your visit, you can buy a bag of chocolate goat poop (aka chocolate raisins) before you leave from our dedicated goat poop stall (cash preferred, please, but card payments are accepted).

Lunan Bay Cashmere & Fine Fibres by Wish Ewe Were Here

Fibre fanatic and spinning expert, Fred of Wish Ewe Were Here will be demonstrating how to hand spin Lunan Bay Cashmere during our farm tours. He will have a limited quantity of Lunan Bay Cashmere yarn and a range of his lovely fibres and yarns. Fred accepts cash and card payments.