Farms and historic farmsteads for kids around Dallas

Dallas's northern suburbs were cotton fields and ranches not long ago, and the old farmsteads that survived are now great places to show kids animals: chickens and sheep, old houses to poke around in, yards small enough to cover in an hour, and most of them free or a few dollars.

Closest is the 1891 Heritage Farmstead next to downtown Plano, with sheep, goats, chickens and peacocks. Forty minutes up Preston Road in Gunter, Preston Trail Farms lets you feed goats and pigs year round and becomes Big Orange Pumpkin Farm in October. Nash Farm in old Grapevine and Old City Park in Dallas are free historic farms with sheep and donkeys. The most Texan of all is the twice-daily longhorn cattle drive at the Fort Worth Stockyards: free, and a two-year-old on your shoulders will be speechless.

• 5 places
• 4 free
• 5 stroller-friendly
• closest is 5 min away