1. Best for foodies: North Wheddon Farm, Exmoor, Somerset

Slap bang in the middle of Exmoor; urban souls escape to North Wheddon Farm for the peace (birdsong aside) and isolation: stand on the doorstep and you can see right down the Quarme Valley. But that's just for starters: "Good, honest ingredients used in traditional ways" is Rachael Abraham's summary of the food she and husband, Julian, dish up at their listed farmhouse. Their livestock larder runs to pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens, geese and the occasional turkey (although some, like Holly and Ivy the Kune Kune pigs, are friends rather than potential supper). Meals are served in next to an open fire in the snug or in the garden. From homemade sausages and air-dried hams to home-smoked salmon, Aga-baked bread and sticky toffee puddings, if what's on your plate hasn't come from the farmstead itself, you can bet it's only had a short run up. Light and airy bedrooms (two doubles, one single) make this a perfect place to chill and fill.

• 01643 841 791, sawdays.co.uk. From £30-£37.50pp; three-course dinner with coffee £22.50. Good availability over summer. A self-catering barn, sleeping six, and lodge, sleeping three, are also available and still have some summer availability; prices from £400-£950 and £200-£490, respectively.

2. Best for camping: Troytown, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Experiencing the Isles of Scilly's beauty seldom comes cheap - a night's hotel stay in summer can set you back £500 - so it's no surprise that savvy visitors pack their tents and head for Troytown Farm campsite. Its 38 pitches are footsteps from safe swimming off white sands that glisten with shells. For kids it's like stumbling into a Famous Five adventure; as the island is traffic free, they're safe to run wild. On the Scilly's only dairy farm there's milking to watch, calves to pet and ice cream to try - and the other islands are a quick ferry hop away. Come evening the Atlantic sunsets, shoreline campfires, shooting stars and scones aplenty make this a mighty fine place to be.

• 01720 422360, troytown.co.uk. From £7pp per night. The farm still has availability for the beginning and end of the school holidays but is full between 25 July-27 August. Travel to St Mary's by plane, helicopter or ferry with Isles of Scilly Travel (0845 710 5555, islesofscilly-travel.co.uk) then catch the inter-island ferry (st-agnes-boating.co.uk) to St. Agnes.

3. Best for luxury: Home Farm, Hemingstone, Suffolk

A recently renovated 16th-century farmhouse, Home Farm's traditional features of old Suffolk brick floors and vast, limed oak beams and set against mod-cons including iPod docks, Starck bathrooms (one with great views from the roll-top bath) and Rayburn, although if you don't fancy cooking, you can book nearby Yaxley Hall's chef. Home Farm is no longer a working farm but it is in the process of organic conversion, which includes the reintroduction of sheep to the 37 acres of meadowland. There's great walking from the doorstep - including the six-mile Shrubland Park - and Sutton Hoo, Southwold, the pretty village of Woodbridge and the Heritage Coast are an easy pootle away by car.

• Home Farm sleeps eight and still has good availability over the summer. CV Travel (020 7410 1086, cvtravel.co.uk) offers 7 night's from £1,350-£2250. Holiday rentals before 31 August get an additional 15% discount.

4. Best for volunteering: The Magdalen Project, Winsham, Somerset

Pick runner beans, plant lettuces, tug up marrows, paint fences or, if you're unlucky, spread muck, for six hours a day and you'll be rewarded with a cosy bed for the night and lots of healthy tucker at this organic farm, which has animals and produces veg boxes for home delivery. Volunteers are very welcome, with long-term workers from Australia getting busy alongside kids from the local college and weekend breakers. Farmhands usually retire from their duties around 3.30pm, to explore the area by bike and walk in the 132 acres. You could also book a day on one of their courses and learn to make cheese, bread, preserves or sausages.

• 01460 30144, themagdalenproject.org.uk. Food courses £70pp per day.

5. Best for young families: Higher Lank Farm, Bodmin, Cornwall

This working farm is geared specifically towards pre-schoolers (bookings are only accepted from families with at least one child under six); Higher Lank Farm has all the activities a mini farmer could wish for, from feeding rounds and egg collecting to pony and tractor rides. The accommodation is in either a family en suite room in the grade II listed 15th century farmhouse or the self-catering cottage with a toddler-proof private garden. The Finnemore family go out of their way to make life easier for parents, so nursery teas and adult suppers (served in the farmhouse or delivered to your cottage if you'd rather), are available several times a week, all cooked using home and local produce. Add that other parent essential - babysitting - and you can see why families return annually. Be prepared for tears on the drive home.

• 01208 850716, higherlankfarm.co.uk. Seven nights B&B in a family room (maximum two adults, three children) from £700-£930. Self-catering cottage (maximum four adults, five children) from £885-£1,600. Nursery teas, dinner and babysitting at extra cost. Still good availability for this year, particularly June and September.

6. Best for greenies: The Coach House, Beech Hill Farm, Rushlake Green, East Sussex

A small, organically-run (non-certified) sheep farm is run by passionate conservationist Julia, whose environmental policy includes using solar-heated water, offsetting the carbon footprint created by transporting the sheep and the ethical production of their luxurious yarn. The farm recently won a Green Tourism Gold Award; and a lottery grant for Julia's educational "Sheep to Shawl" project. Accommodation in the open-plan, two-room Coach House, with its pared down Swedish-style interior, is the perfect space to recharge and enjoy the views over wild orchards to the Sussex High Weald.

• 01435 830203, sussexcountryretreat.co.uk. Sleeps 3. From £225 for a three-night break to £420 a week based on two adults. A studio, sleeping three, is also available. Both still have some summer availability.

7. Best barn: Cromwell's Manor, Woodhey Hall, Nantwich, Cheshire

Set in the grounds of historic Woodhey Hall this Grade-II-listed, former Elizabethan barn dates to 1690 and was once home to Cheshire's aristocracy - it's claimed Cromwell stayed here during the battle of Nantwich. Original features like fabulous Queen Anne trusses and mullioned windows remain, coupled with rich brocades and traditional oak furnishings: it's very "smart country set" . Yet still the overall feel is of light and space: the vast, open-plan kitchen and living area runs almost the entire length of the first floor. Close to the Peak District and Shropshire Hills, this is a great bet for outdoorsy families wanting to double-up and cut costs. Outside there's a large private garden, plus a shared games lawn, children's play area and indoor games room; while up at the farm kids can help with the horses, ducks and rabbits and watch the milking.

• Rural Retreats (01386 701177, ruralretreats.co.uk) offers one week's rental of Cromwells Manor (sleeps eight) from £1,213-£1,288. There's still good availability in July and August.

8. Best for history: Coldharbour Cottage, Stone-in-Oxney, Kent

When Andrew Jempson set about breathing life back into Coldharbour Farm's derelict 17th-century cottage he'd no idea that beneath the debris and six layers of wallpaper lay a historic gem. Original brick and flagstone floors, ancient oak timbers (from Rye's shipyards) and the Inglenook fireplace - all now skillfully restored by local craftsmen - coupled with "historical notes" for each room, make a stay here a journey back in time, albeit with added contemporary comforts. The lesson extends outside, too. Andrew, who's spent time with Ray Mears in the Arctic and Namibia, is a mine of information and keen to share. Guests can learn about traditional farming ways; help the shepherd tending the 400 Romney Marsh sheep; go on a timely treasure hunt or join Andrew on his themed tours that range from bushcraft to windmills.

• 01797 230214, coldharbourcottage.co.uk. One week's self-catering rental from £350-£700 The cottage (which sleeps 4-6) still has good availability for August.

9. Best for teenagers: Clyne Farm, Mayals, Swansea

While gamboling lambs can cut the mustard with younger kids, teenagers require something more high octane. Once the home farm for the Clyne Castle Estate, there's still a smattering of cute animals to coo over here, but the big draw is the array of activities, including climbing, gorge walking, caving, horse riding, paintballing, quad biking and, apparently, the world's muddiest assault course, Challenge Valley. Self-catering accommodation consists of seven converted cottages and barns, set in secluded woodland or overlooking Swansea Bay. Sleeping between two and 16 (some interconnect); interiors are functional rather than fancy but, as any parent of a grubby teenager will attest, that's probably for the best.

• 01792 403333, clynefarm.com. From £300-£645 per week (£235-£440 for a three-night weekend break) for a cottage sleeping four. Activities extra, although a taster session is included with weekly rentals. There is also a small campsite and tipis for hire.

10. Best for learning a skill: Hagley Bridge Farm, Somerset

Ever fancied trying your hand at cheese making? Now's you're chance. Hagley Bridge, a working dairy farm on the Somerset-Devon border, offers one- and two-day courses in cheese-making (soft and hard), butter, yogurt, and cream products. Of course you get to take home your produce to impress (or not) the folks back home. Accommodation is in their four-star farmhouse, a 16th longhouse, and costs extra (£35pppn).

Surrounded by inspiring countryside - the Quantocks, Brendon and Blackdown Hills and Exmoor - there's plenty of opportunity to walk off any excessive.

• 01984 629 026, hagleybridgefarm.co.uk. The course, including two lunches, costs £230pp. Next dates: 23-24 May, 13-14 June, 11-12 and 15-16 July.

11. Best for views: Ty Mynydd, Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire

From this Black Mountain farm the views stretch across the Wye Valley's ever-changing patchwork as far as the eye can see. Equally impressive is the farmhouse itself, which looks as old as the hills yet a few years back was a single-storey, labourer's cottage. Transformed by Niki and John Barber, a traditional stonemason, using old quarry stone, reclaimed bricks and ash from their own trees for beams. From bathrobes and bed linen to the bright orange egg yolks at breakfast, everything's organic and, where possible, home-produced. The couple raise pigs, sheep, cattle, goats, chickens, geese and bees - and if that leaves you hungry for more you can take a basket of goodies home with you.

• 01497 821593, tymynydd.co.uk. From £40 pp per night B&B. Plenty of mid-week availability and some weekends over summer.

12. Best for something different: Farnless Farm Park, Sedgefield, County Durham

Cows? Boring! Sheep? Baaa humbug! If that's your attitude then Farnless Farm Park should rock your manger, with its superior cast of farmyard friends: American bison, red deer, elk, prairie dogs and pot-bellied pigs. You can join in with feeding the smaller, less glamorous animals (pigs, hens, donkeys, ponies) or kick back with some ice-cream and a bison burger from the farm shop while watching the park's rare birds.

• 0191 377 1428, farnlessfarmpark.co.uk. Accommodation available in Bee Keeper cottage, on site, which has four bedrooms, available from £300 per week.

13. Best for walkers: Inchie Farm, Port of Menteith, Stirling

With the long distance walking routes of the Rob Roy Way, West Highland Way and Cowal Way on the doorstep, the Trossachs Trail and Ben Lomond nearby and the Lake of Menteith at the end of the field - where ospreys fish and you can too - Inchie is for outdoorsy types. Only the grunts and bleats of the 200 cattle and sheep, and the shout that your full Scottish breakfast's ready, will disturb your peace.

• 01877 385 233, inchiefarm.co.uk, lochlomond-trossachs.org. From £50 per double per night.

14. Best for a healthy break: Bangors Organic, Cornwall

This stylish farmhouse was the first B&B to receive organic accreditation from the Soil Association, most ingredients are homegrown in the surrounding five acres of gardens, beyond which lie the north Cornish coastline. Bangors' bangers are always organic, as are the veggie dishes available in the airy restaurant - think bean and kale curry, asparagus with a poached egg, baked rhubarb with ginger and orange. Holistic treatments from reflexology to organic facials and Hawaiian massages can be ordered in, and buses run to Bude and Boscastle. It's a stylish place, with flagstone floors, four white airy rooms, and ducks, chucks and tabby cats are the only animals on site, though a pony is due to arrive this month.

• 01288 361 297, bangorsorganic.co.uk. From £55pp per night B&B, from £75 half board.

15. Best for a mixed group: Dove Court, Salton, North Yorkshire

For a mixed party of several generations, Dove Court would do the job. An orchard, barn, sandpit and swings mean there's plenty of places for kids to monkey around, and Kirkbymoorside, four miles away, provides the village pubs for the teenagers. The three single-storey cottages - Kingfisher, Willow and Swallow - are accessible and adapted for wheelchairs. The cottages (sleeping nine altogether) are set round a landscaped courtyard with troughs of flowers, a pond and somewhere to barbecue - if you can face it after spending the day feeding and petting the farm's lambs.

• 01751 431 697, dovecourt.com. From £240 per week for a cottage sleeping three.

On Sunday 7 June, over 400 farms all over the country (including some of these listed above) throw open their barn doors for the day and welcome visitors to poke their snout into farm life. To find a farm to visit near you, see farmsunday.org or ring 0247 6413 911.