The rare-breeds farm
Tamworth pigs, Highland cattle, Jacob sheep and donkeys, free and at arm's length for children.
A century ago one man was buying this land field by field, not to build on it but to stop anyone else doing so. John George Graves, the mail-order magnate who became Sheffield's best-known philanthropist, pieced together roughly 100 hectares of ancient woodland and meadow south of the city between 1926 and 1936 and gave the lot to its people. The result is Sheffield's largest park, about 5 km from the centre between Norton, Woodseats and Meadowhead, still run in his name through a charitable trust overseen by the council, and not without local grumbling about how that trust is managed. The real draw for families is the animal farm in the north-east corner: a free rare-breeds farm with Tamworth pigs, long-horned Highland cattle and Jacob sheep, plus donkeys, goats and poultry. It opens daily from 10:00 to 15:30, no booking, and the only charge is a donation box suggesting £3; dogs are not allowed in. Around it sit two playgrounds, three small duck-covered lakes, waymarked paths through woodland said to be a thousand years old, and, at the Charles Ashmore Road entrance, a short pitch-and-putt course, tennis courts and bowling greens. The main paths are surfaced and fine for pushchairs; the woodland trails turn to mud after rain, and rain here rarely takes a day off. The Rose Garden Cafe beside the farm has a story to match the park's. It shut with fifteen minutes' notice in July 2022 over fears about its roof and was threatened with demolition; a residents' campaign saved it, it came back as a takeaway hatch that December, and the indoor seating reopened in August 2024, with scaffolding still propping the front wall for a long while afterwards. A full restoration costed at around £2.6 million is still waiting for its funding. The offer is simple: tea, cake and light lunches, nothing deliberately halal, and there is no prayer space anywhere in the park. Be honest with yourself: this is a locals' park before it is a sight. A visitor without children has no reason to make the trip out from the centre, but a family spending a few days in Sheffield and wanting a cheap morning outdoors will get a pleasant couple of hours from it. Driving is easiest, with small car parks at the Hemsworth Road entrance by the farm and at Charles Ashmore Road. By bus, any service from the centre down Chesterfield Road towards Meadowhead (the 75 among them) drops you at the park's edge in about half an hour. In winter it is dark before 16:00 and the farm closes before that, so come in the morning.
Tamworth pigs, Highland cattle, Jacob sheep and donkeys, free and at arm's length for children.
Waymarked trails through old trees end at small duck-filled lakes, the prettiest part of the park beyond the farm.
Saved from demolition by residents after its sudden 2022 closure and reopened indoors in 2024, with a full restoration still unfunded; the whole park's story in one building.
Hemsworth Road, Norton, Sheffield S8 8LJ
Without children, no. It is a handsome neighbourhood park but a long way from the centre; Endcliffe Park in the west is closer and nicer for a walk, and with a car the Peak District begins twenty minutes away. Graves Park earns the trip only when a child wants to see the pigs and donkeys.
No. It is a small educational farm of rare British breeds you finish in under an hour, and children under eight are the ones who really enjoy it. No wild animals and no shows, but it is free and open every day, which is the point.