Posted: October 27th, 2009 - 7:46pm by Doug Powell

The petting farm at the centre of an E.coli outbreak that left several children seriously ill and more than 90 people reporting symptoms of the infection, has reopened despite a storm of criticism from parents.

Godstone Farm in Surrey opened its play areas yesterday but kept all visitors out of contact with animals. The attraction, which is still under investigation by the Health Protection Authority, will hold Halloween-related events this weekend.

Tracy Mock, whose two-year-old twins spent weeks in hospital fighting the bug after visiting the site said she was "shocked" to hear of the opening.

"I was under the impression the farm was going to stay closed until they had finished their investigations."