Case study
Vallets Farm Barn: simple booking, built on complicated rules
Vallets Farm Barn is a licensed animal sanctuary near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, where every guest on an alpaca walk is paired with their own alpaca before afternoon tea. Its tickets have to sell within the farm's licensing and the number of alpacas available for each session. We worked out the allocation rules with the farm and built them into a custom booking plugin, so all the visitor sees is a simple ticket calculator that tells them what they need and what it costs.
- Client
- Vallets Farm Barn
- Services
- Web development
- Sector
- Animal sanctuary farm
Thechallenge:ticketsthatsellbyalpaca
Vallets Farm Barn was a new business with no online presence, so the website, the booking system and the shop all had to be built from scratch. Ticket sales had to follow the farm's Animal Welfare Licence and be clear about how the alpacas are allocated, because a session sells out when its alpacas are taken, not when it reaches a set number of people.
The allocation rules are what made it complicated. An adult takes one alpaca, but some children can share an alpaca with an adult, so two groups of the same size can need a different number of alpacas. A booking form that only counts people can't tell those groups apart, so the farm needed booking logic built around its own rules.
Whatwedid
Working out the rules with the farm
Before we wrote any code, we went through the allocation logic with the farm until every case had a clear answer, including who takes an alpaca, who can share one and how each type of visitor is priced. That way the booking system gives a customer the same answer the farm would give them in person.
The ticket calculator
Visitors enter who's coming in four groups: adults (18 and over), young adults (16 to 17), juniors (10 to 15) and children up to 9, who go free with an adult. The calculator works out the tickets and the cost, so visitors never have to work out who shares an alpaca.
The booking plugin and the shop
We built a custom booking plugin that sells each session by alpaca and applies the rules we agreed with the farm to every booking. We also added a shop for the farm's merchandise on the same website. For another booking system built around how a business works, see our Modality booking case study.
Launch support
Because the farm was starting with no presence, we supported the launch too. We reviewed its strategy and content, helped with the assets the website needed and arranged photography of the farm. There was no separate web design stage: we put that budget into the booking development, where it mattered most.
Theresult
Vallets Farm Barn launched with a website built around the way it sells its experiences. Visitors use a ticket calculator to see what they need, a custom booking plugin sells each session by alpaca, and there's a shop for the farm's merchandise. The farm now holds a 5.0 rating from its visitors' reviews.
Visitors enter who's coming in four groups: adults 18 and over, young adults 16 to 17, juniors 10 to 15 and children up to 9. The calculator works out how many tickets the group needs and what the booking costs, and children up to 9 go free with an adult.
Before we wrote any code, we went through the allocation logic with the farm until every case had a clear answer, including who takes an alpaca, who can share one and how each type of visitor is priced.
A custom booking plugin sells each session by alpaca and applies the rules we agreed with the farm to every booking in the same way.
Ecommerce for the farm's merchandise, so visitors can buy from the farm on the same website they book on.
