Caldermeade Farm Review: Is the Free Petting Zoo Worth the Drive?

We must have driven past the Caldermeade Farm & Cafe sign a dozen times on the way to Phillip Island and never stopped. It’s right there on the South Gippsland Highway, about an hour out of Melbourne, and every time we said “next time.” This time we actually pulled in, and honestly, we should’ve done it years ago.

What Is Caldermeade Farm?

It’s a working dairy farm with a free animal nursery attached, plus a cafe. No ticket booth, no gate fee — you just park (free) and walk into the nursery whenever you like. That’s the big difference between this and somewhere like the best animal farms around Melbourne, where a lot of the good stuff needs a paid tour.

The Animal Nursery

This is what everyone’s actually there for. You can walk right up and:

• Feed the lambs and kid goats — they’re pushy little things, in a good way
• Pat a newborn Jersey calf (the ears are unreasonably soft)
• Watch the farm’s Highland cattle, Bonnie and Dougal, who’ve clearly been the mascots here for a while, plus the newer pair, Freya and Fiona
• Say hello to the alpacas, who have the best resting faces of any animal on the property
• Wander past the fallow deer, ducks, geese and chickens

None of it needs booking. You just rock up and go at your own pace, which made it a much easier outing than places where you’re on someone else’s schedule.

Don’t Miss Cow Milking at 2:30pm

Every day at 2:30pm you can head upstairs to the viewing room and watch the herd get milked. It’s free, it only takes a few minutes to get the idea, and our kids didn’t want to leave. If you’ve got littlies who’ve never actually seen where milk comes from, this alone is worth timing your visit around.

The Cafe

After the animals, we grabbed food at the cafe. It’s a solid brunch and milkshake stop rather than anything fancy — burgers, chips, ice cream, and their own goat milk and Jersey milk if you want to try it (or take some home). Reviews online are a bit mixed on the cafe side — some people find it pricey or slow on busy weekends — but nobody seems to argue with the free animal experience being the main event.

Address, Hours & Contact

• Address: 4385 South Gippsland Highway, Caldermeade VIC 3984
• Phone: (03) 5997 5000
• Email: cafe@caldermeadefarm.com.au
• Cow milking: daily at 2:30pm
• Animal nursery entry: free
• Parking: free

Worth double-checking hours on Caldermeade’s own site before you go, especially around public holidays, since these can shift a bit.

A Few Tips

• It works better as a stopover than a full day out. If you’re heading to Phillip Island, Wilsons Prom or Venus Bay, this is a good excuse to break up the drive rather than a destination on its own.
• Weekends and school holidays get busy. We’d go on a weekday if you can, just for a bit more room around the nursery.
• Wear shoes you don’t mind getting a bit muddy. It’s a real working farm, not a manicured petting zoo.
• Bring cash or card for extras — the milk and yoghurt make a decent souvenir if you’re driving home.

Caldermeade also runs occasional school holiday extras like kids’ paint-and-sip sessions and tractor trailer tours, but these need separate bookings — the free nursery doesn’t.

Worth the Drive?

For us, yes. It’s not a big flashy attraction, and the cafe won’t blow you away, but the free animal nursery and the 2:30pm milking are genuinely good with kids, and it costs nothing to just go and look. If you’re already driving past on the way to Gippsland or Phillip Island, there’s really no reason not to stop.

If you’re after more free animal experiences closer to the city, Edendale Farm in Eltham is another one worth knowing about, and if you want a fuller list, we’ve rounded up the best animal farms in Melbourne too. Doing a Gippsland farm loop? The sunflower fields near Melbourne are on a similar route if you’re travelling in season