A FIRE at a York family adventure playground has claimed the lives of some of the animals.

Piglets Adventure Farm in Towthorpe Moor Lane in York have said on their social media that there was a fire at the site in the early hours of Sunday morning (March 17).

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Speaking in a post on Facebook they say: "We are absolutely devastated to share some incredibly sad news with our friends and visitors.

"In the early hours of Sunday morning, we tragically lost ten of our beloved pet lambs and two of our lovely goats due to smoke inhalation from a small fire.

"As you can imagine, we are all completely devastated and in shock over this terrible loss. We have a very close bond with our animals, so it has been such a difficult and traumatic time for our team.

"We are so grateful to our Animal Barn Manager, Heidi and our director Ed, who managed to save the lives of all of our other animals in the barn, by safely stopping the spread of the fire.

"We simply cannot thank them enough, if it were not for their quick thinking and calm reaction, the situation could have been so much worse."

They say the fire was ignited by a heat lamp which was being used to keep the lambs warm in the night.

"Whilst the fire was discovered and extinguished very quickly by Heidi and Ed, unfortunately our poor lambs and goats nearest to the fire had already suffered smoke inhalation," they said.

The site has been closed today (Monday, March 18) and will also be shut tomorrow (March 19) and they plan to reopen on Wednesday (March 20).

The adventure playground was originally established as an arable farm in 2001.

It is owned by Edward Sykes and his family  who chose to diversify the business and explore alternative ways to generate revenue, due to a turbulent agricultural market.

York Press: Flashback to 2016 with, left, Edward Sykes (owner of Piglets Adventure Farm) and Gordon Blackwood (relationship manager at Yorkshire Bank)Flashback to 2016 with, left, Edward Sykes (owner of Piglets Adventure Farm) and Gordon Blackwood (relationship manager at Yorkshire Bank) (Image: Supplied)

Piglets Adventure Farm opened in 2013 and also includes a maize maze, crazy golf, bouncing barrels train ride, petting barn and go-kart track.

Back in 2016 The Press reported that Yorkshire Bank provided the funding to support refurbishments with Gordon Blackwood, relationship manager at the bank’s Business and Private Banking Centre in York, arranging the deal.

At that point the business hireed about 25 staff during the summer and ten staff in the off-peak season.

For more information on the closure and for updates go to: https://pigletsadventurefarm.com/