Mike Laycock and family visit a farm deep in rural East Yorkshire where rare breeds not only survive but prosper.

He had been born only four or five hours earlier, but already the tiny bleating pygmy goat was standing steadily on all four feet. And he had already been given a name: Ciagha.

Cruckley Animal Farm is a place where most of the animals still have names. There's Tallula, a Gloucester old spot pig, Arthur and Lancelot, two long horn oxen, and Cherub, a grey-faced Dartmoor sheep and her lambs Cherish and Charmer.

It's a refreshing change to the intensive, almost industrial approach to rearing seen so often nowadays in the British countryside.

The farm at Foston-on-the-Wolds, near Driffield, run by John and Sue Johnston, also has an important role in preventing the extinction of some of Britain's rarest breeds. It is the only farm in East Yorkshire to be approved by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, and many of its livestock are classed by the trust as being vulnerable, endangered or even "critical". It currently keeps six of Britain's seven rare pig breeds, including Berkshires, Saddlebacks, Lops and Tamworths.

But for children, Cruckley's attraction lies more in being able to feed, stroke and even cuddle some of the animals.

The highlight for my family undoubtedly lay in the hatchery. Here you can see the eggs in an incubator starting to crack as the chicks emerge into the world. In another area, exceptionally fluffy, cute and cheeping chicks, ranging from hens and ducks to guinea fowl and peahen, can be picked up and cuddled. One tiny chick even fell asleep in my daughter's arms, sparking an emotional plea to let her take it back home with us (firmly resisted, I hasten to add!)

Elsewhere on the farm, we were almost mobbed by the exceptionally tame Cherub, Cherish and Charmer, patted Shetland ponies, fed a goat with an insatiable appetite, had a go at "milking" an artificial cow and wandered down to an artificially created lake full of brightly plumaged waterfowl.

The farm features a cafe and shop where we finished our visit with a hot chocolate, and there is also a good children's play area, which younger ones would enjoy.

Factfile:

Cruckley Animal Farm, just off the B1249 Driffield to Beeford road at Foston-on-the-Wolds.

To get there: take the A166 to Driffield, and then look for signs

Open: Daily, 10.30pm to 5.30pm

Admission: Adult: £3.25, OAP £2.75, children £2.50

Further information: 01262 488337, or visit www.cruckley.co.uk

Updated: 08:31 Saturday, June 26, 2004