A Family Farm
The Fishers Farm family story and the history of where Fishers Adventure Farm Park all began
During the 1980’s, Fishers Farm in Wisborough Green, about 30 acres in size, came up for sale three times in quick succession. It was in a derelict state, tumbled down buildings and overgrown hedgerows around the fields. The third time it came up for sale Tim and Trina Rollings put in an offer, and in August 1985, Fishers Farm was purchased.
Over the following years Tim and Trina, with two young children in tow, set about making the land pay for itself, whilst still running their garden-care company. Soon they decided to set up a ‘pick-your-own soft fruit’ business, which opened in the summer of 1986. The fruit fields covered the entire outside play areas you can see today.
The ‘Pick Your Own Fruit’ business began to assert itself, but was only seasonal, so Tim and Trina converted the cow stalls and pig pens on the farm into 4 holiday cottages. A section of the old holiday cottages are now the current farm house.
Both Tim and Trina have farming backgrounds, with Tim’s side having farmed land around the Haven for more than half a century. On the other side of the globe was Trina’s family, who managed a tea plantation in Sri Lanka!
Tim & Trina began to gather a few animals; donkeys, goats, chickens, which became extremely popular with the fruit pickers and Holiday Cottage guests – much more than the fruit! An idea developed over the following period of time in that by utilising the existing buildings, they could set up a small farm tour and charge an entrance price.
This idea expanded and became a numbered route through the buildings and fields. A shop was added, a campsite and a Tearoom. Tim and his small team built most of the barns. The entire original kitchen fitted into the space behind the Saddle Rooms Bar counter and the only electrical appliance was a large kettle. Trina baked some of her famous cakes and in June 1990, Fishers Farm opened for business for the first time.
The tearoom, with its one kettle, is now a 120-seater restaurant serving between 200-300 hundred meals a day during the high season (and the coffee bar is still selling delicious cakes from Trina’s original recipes!)
Eventually the Farm name was changed from Fishers Animal Farm to Fishers Farm Park and the logo was modernised.
Visitors then expected it to be mostly animals, so ‘Adventure’ was added to its name to try to convey how much more there is to offer within the Park.
In the last decade, Tim & Trina’s son Tom, and his wife Kate have joined the family business and are bringing Fishers Adventure Farm Park into the next generation, along with their three young children. The Rollings family have always wanted Fishers to remain a friendly, fun-filled and great-value attraction. They and their fantastic team are consistently putting in every effort to create something new for their visitors and maintain a top-level of customer service.
Over the last decade, Fishers has expanded to a huge extent, with many ideas and the majority of the building work and planning orchestrated by Tim, Tom and the Fishers Farm staff. This includes the castle, maze, Casper’s Barn, Higgledy Village, Squirrel Scramble, Toddler Village and many more!
Customer feedback has also played a huge role in the developments, in order to maintain an award-winning attraction that families want to return to. In spring 2020 another indoor play area was introduced as another great ‘rainy day’ option, and as always the business is expanding their commitment to sustainability and inclusivity.
A final word from the Rollings family…
“We would like to thank the many families and generations who have supported our business past and present, and we hope we may to continue to create a fantastic attraction, delivering happy memories and exceeding expectations on all counts, for many years to come.”