Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm, near Stowmarket, temporarily closed due to illness investigation

A farm near Stowmarket has announced it will be closed temporarily while it tries to determine the cause of illness amongst staff and visitors.

In a Facebook statement, Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm, said it was devastated to learn of four cases of illness in visitors.

It said though the animals on the farm have shown no signs of illness, there has been some staff sickness, which was initially believed to have been caused by a sickness bug.

The statement said: “We sincerely wish the affected visitors a speedy recovery.

“Please be assured that our animals are in good health and the staff are here looking after everyone as normal.

“We had veterinary advice that if it was our animals we would be seeing signs of sickness in them and there were none.

“We believed this to be a norovirus infection which seems to be particularly prevalent at the moment.

“We sincerely apologise if it turns out that our animals are the source of these infections and testing by officials is expected to take place early next week to determine whether this is the case.

“We would like to thank you for the emails, messages and calls of concern for our animals and us.”

The farm will reopen once it has been established it is safe to do so.