A Double-Scoop of Fun at Simcock Farm
AAA Horizons - by Karen White - August, 2010
Professional violinist Beverlyann Simcock once played with big names like Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart, but now she spends most of her days with lesser-known stars like Zeus, Ariel, Poncho and Goliath.
Those are some of the friends you'll find at Simcock Farm, an off-the-beaten-path, fourth generation farm in Swansea famous for both its ice cream and its menagerie of Jacob sheep, Holstein cows, potbelly pigs, miniature horses and donkeys, rabbits, a pigmy Zebu and a little snip of a Terrier called Rascal.
Ms. Simcock and her husband James bought his family's 100-year-old dairy farm in 2001. They tried to maintain it, but were overcome by the challenges of a working farm. "I loved animals, but getting up at 3:30 a.m. every day to milk was too much," she said. So "the fiddler and the farmer" changed their tune, sold the dairy herd, and turned their idyllic fields and pastures into an oasis for abused animals.
The farm's ice cream stand - with its perpetual line of customers clamoring for orange pineapple or rum raisin - helps to support the cost of the animal rescue efforts. They also sell vegetables such as plum tomatoes and hot Portuguese peppers grown right on the farm.
It's hard to tell which is the bigger draw - the ice cream or the animals. Customers were so adamant about their favorite animal, Ms. Simcock said, that the farm started a "Mayor of Simcock Farm" contest. For 1$, people can vote for their favorite four-legged friend, and all proceeds go to the Somerset music department.
All summer, the farm holds fun events such as a monthly meet-and-greet with the animals, Two-Wheel Tuesdays (for motorcycle enthusiasts), Cool Car Wednesdays (for classic car lovers) and hayrides when harvest time rolls around.
And if the customers are lucky, they can catch Ms. Simcock when she's not working in the fields. Then they can hear the story of how she bartered a violin lesson for her Nigerian goat, or about the time when Poncho the mini-donkey opened all the gates and let the other animals loose.
"All the animals are here forever. They're just enjoying life,"she said. And so, it seems, are the fiddler and the farmer.
