Travel • Mother Farm (Tokyo Nov 2016)

This could easily be the highlight of our Tokyo trip for Mini K. He loves farm animals more than the Disneyland rides! He had been looking forward to 'A Day at the Farm' just like his favourite book~

and he kept telling me that he wants to hug the pigs, the monkeys, the sheeps, the birds... Lol!

So with some prior planning, we were off to Mother Farm on our 3rd day in Tokyo. There's a slight discount if you buy the entrance tickets in advance, 1350¥/Adult instead of the usual 1500¥. We bought ours at Mini Stop konbini (convenient store) at Narita Airport, please request for their staff's assistance.

Mother Farm is located in Chiba prefecture. Technically speaking, it would be nearer (with lesser transfer & cheaper) to go from Disney Resort than the apartment we stayed later on which was at Hatagaya (near Shinjuku). The farm's opening hours are quite short so we'll need to be there early enough to enjoy the shows etc. By going from Disney Resort side, we need not wake up absurdly early to beat the Shinjuku peak hour crowd and multiple train transfers.

Just to let you have a clearer idea of the difference it makes when traveling from the 2 different locations:

From Hatagaya (near Shinjuku), 2 transfers.
Travelling time 2hrs9mins or longer if you miss
the train at Bakurocho station, costs 1670¥/Adult
Source: Hyperdia

From Maihama Disney Resort, only 1 transfer.
Total travelling time less than 90mins, costs 1140¥/Adult
Source: Hyperdia

And do note that the farm is not walking distance from its nearest station,Kitmitsu station. You'll need to take their free shuttle bus, which is a 30-40mins journey. The hotel staff helped to call Mother Farm on our behalf's and we were told the free shuttle bus has ceased operation. So now instead of the once-a-day free shuttle bus, there's a few other shuttle bus timing to choose. This requires no pre-booking. One way journey costs 700¥/Adult though.

Source: Mother Farm
Just look at the print in red

We managed to follow the schedule we planned on Hyperdia and reached Kimitsu station at 10:15am, just in time for the 10:35am shuttle bus.

You'll see this signboard at South exit of Kimitsu station

Bus stop number 1 at Kimitsu station.

We arrived at Mother Farm approximately 11:10am

There's stamp rally booklet at 200¥ each, so pick up a copy if you're keen. I didn't because the kids had their drawing notebook with them and could stamp on the blank pages. Do read through the various event/performance timings on the brochure so you'll have a rough idea which/where to head first. The farm's huge, you cannot afford to walk aimlessly and end up having to walk up down the hilly slopes a few times! There is also a guided bus service available but we didn't go for that. A little regret at the end of our visit because our legs were aching from the walking!

Price for tour bus within the farm

We missed the 11am piglets race (we went for the 3pm race later on). So we went for a quick sheep petting at Fureai Farm (ふれあい牧場). Followed by 11:30am cow milking.

Pentagonian Mara

Capybaras! Snoozing~

Alpaca!

Got their 1st stamp rally after Cow Milking!

There are shops, cafes and restaurants all around the farm so we could grab a bite or shop for omiyage (souvenirs) while in between time.

Cheese in assorted flavors, reasonably priced and tasted great!

In-house home made fruit jam

We walked to the rabbit shed and the kids had so much joy petting the rabbits and guinea pigs! Lil K even named the guinea pig he's holding "Bobby", and "Walter" for the one Mini K was holding! What a LoL moment for us! :D

After spending close to 30mins with "Bobby and Walter", Mini K 依依不舍的 leave this part of the farm. We walked up the hilly slopes slowly while admiring the beautiful autumn scenery.

There's a small amusement area Waku Waku Land (わくわくランド) with pay-per-ride but we didn't go for any.

We went for a quick lunch at the restaurant and walked further up towards the dome, just in time for the 1:30pm sheep shearing show. This show is highly recommended! It was entertaining and very funny!

The brothers had the honor of joining the feeding of sheeps on stage, Mini K was so happy!

After the amusing performance, we walked around this part of the farm and watched half part of the duck parade, because it was so windy cold we gave up!

Actually there's much more to explore further up, where there's fruits and flowers plantation. But since it's nearing December and not the harvest period of any fruits nor flower bloom, so we decided to walk back down the slopes for piglets race.

However, if you visit Mother Farm during other time of the year, it's worth checking out the fruit section. The bus tour will cover this section too. Check their Japanese website for more details, link at the end of this post.

Back to the piglets race, before the show began, the staff would sell piglet plushies with number tags attached.

It's like a form of betting? But Hey! It's all for fun only! It costed 500¥/plushie and you'll receive some form of reward if your chosen piglet number wins! I bought a black piglet because it's so cute but without realizing it's a game! My number 4 didn't win me anything thou. The staff would invite guests (mostly children) to join in the race too, so go for it if you are game! We didn't, even though Lil K wanted very much to race with the pigs! The daddy was worried Lil K might fall face down while running in boots and get too dirty/hurt at this early part of our holiday!
Haaa! 😅😅😅 #ThinkTooMuch

We walked over to the petting farm (ふれあい牧場) again, which was just beside the piglets race. Mini K patted all the sheeps and chased all the Patagonian maras to his hearts content!

And we waited a short while for the capybaras to be ready for onsen.

They were so adorable, a pity we didn't get to pet them as they were enjoying the cold weather in their enclosure.

By this time, we covered most of the programs and headed to the cafe nearest to the entrance for a snack while waiting for the 4:40pm bus back to Kimitsu station.

Simple Oden, perfect for the cold weather!

Information

Mother Farm マザー牧場

Opens:

Dec-Jan

10am - 4pm (weekdays)

9:30am - 4pm (weekends)

Feb-Nov

9:30am - 4:30pm (weekdays)

9am - 5pm (weekends)

Nearest station: Kimitsu station,followed by 40mins bus ride.

Address: 940-3 Tagura Futtsu Chiba Pref.

Tel: +81-439-37-3211

Website: 

In English with Shuttle Bus schedule

In Japanese with more detailed information