FAQs

CAFT is for children (aged 17 and under) whose lives are impacted by physical, learning, emotional and social needs. Children from across the North West can visit as a family or with their school or community group. CAFT creates a space for those who may find it difficult to enjoy mainstream activities, and allows children to be themselves with no barrier to participation and no judgement – in a safe, accessible and inclusive environment.

Children can visit who meet one or more of the following eligibility criteria.

• Life Limiting or Terminal Illness
• Wheelchair User
• Mobility Issues
• Additional / Social / Emotional / Behavioural / Special Educational Needs
• Disadvantaged Background
• Impacted by the needs of a family member or by bereavement
• Sensory Impairment

Yes, a family day visit to CAFT includes siblings too. Our aim is to create a place for families to enjoy valuable time together to benefit the whole family.

Our family visits are for small individual parties only with a maximum of 1 car per booking. If you want to visit at the same time as another eligible family, make sure each family makes their own application separately, and both select the same date and time slot. Please email visits@caft.co.uk if you have any additional requirements out of this criterion.

Our application form can be found on our visits page. If your application to visit is successful, you will receive a booking confirmation by e-mail within the following few days.

Families can spend a 2 hour visit at CAFT with access to our outdoor spaces;

• Farm; spend time with our friendly animals (alpacas, sheep, dinky donkeys, pygmy goats, ducks, pig)
• Play Park; Enjoy fun on the swings, wheelchair accessible roundabout and swing, zip wire, activity track, sandpit and playhouse
• Woodland; Explore our mud kitchen, digging area, climbing area, sound wall, viewing platform, aviary, and campfire

We also hold seasonal programmes throughout the year, with themed day visits during Easter, CAFTFest (our weekend festival in June), Halloween and Christmas. 

Children must be accompanied by their parents/guardians/carers at all times for the duration of the visit.

We have tea, coffee and biscuits available in our Brew Shed in the woodland. You are welcome to bring packed lunches or picnics with you – please help us by taking all leftover food & rubbish home with you. Please note alcohol is not allowed on site.

We open our family residential application several times throughout the year. Details of the next window can be found on our visits page. Please note our residential breaks are in very high demand, and we cannot guarantee all applications will be successful. We recommend if you have never visited CAFT before, to apply for a day visit in the first instance.

Families can spend 2 nights at CAFT, either staying in one of our fully accessible, wheelchair friendly flats or in our farmhouse. Families have access to both our indoor and outdoor spaces including;

• Sports hall with bouncy castle slide and indoor games
• Art room
• Sensory room
• The hangout

Our residential hosts will provide meals and the CAFT crew will be on hand for activities. Other families may be staying at the same time (not in the same accommodation) and you will have shared access to communal areas. Children must be accompanied by their parents/guardians/carers at all times for the duration of the stay.

We provide day visits and residential breaks for eligible schools and community groups throughout term time. To enquire about visiting, please contact Katy on visits@caft.co.uk

We provide all of our day visits and residentials free of charge.

If you are able to, you can make a donation to help us continue our provision and improve our facilities. CAFT is a registered charity, it costs around £1,100,000 a year to provide our services and we don’t receive any statutory funding. We are only able to operate and offer visit opportunities by raising voluntary donations.