Thursday 13 September 2012

Cria Update

This is a bit of a photo blog tonight.

Firstly some pictures of this years cria, starting with Hummingbird who is just 4 months old and huge, so much so that we are going to have to wean her early as her Mum Lily is getting really thin.



Hummingbird

Next up is Olympus aka Ollie, he really didn't want to be photographed as he was having a good munch on some grass and didn't want to be disturbed.
Olympus



Last of the first batch of Cria is Tiffany who certainly doesn't mind being photographed.

Tiffany





The second batch started to arrive in August, here they are in nursery this afternoon.




They may look angelic here but they are a pack of hooligans really.


Here they are with Carla in charge, behaving themselves but then they wouldn't mess with Carla!

Fandango is the oldest on the right by ten days, Basil on the left.



The little white female is Tempest AKA Norma (long story) Pictured with Basil, both born on the same morning and inseparable. 

A few pictures from Widecombe Fair, as you can see it was a lovely day, someone had been very creative with the papermache with this brilliant model of Uncle Tom Cobley and his mates on the Grey Mare.






Our stall was in a very prominent position near one of the entrances at this point the girls seemed quite interested in what was going on.
 But it obviously got to much for Lalique who needed to take a nap and used Tigerlily as a cushion.


 A good day was had by all, I think the crowds were up on last year as there seemed to be a sue for the loos most of the day which hasn't happened for the last couple of years.






Wednesday 12 September 2012

Hay, Fairs and Breedings

It has been such a busy time for us here that by the time I have thought about updating the blog it has been really late so I haven't even started it.

It was six weeks ago tomorrow since the barn at home burnt down and the picture below shows you what our yard looks like.  As you can see the hay that was pulled out from the burning building is still there, the clean up should have started today but nobody turned up.  Can't understand how it takes so long to organise a company to come and sort out the mess, but then we are talking about insurance companies here.

As you can appreciate it is really inconvenient  not being able to drive into the yard, everything has to be carried up to the car and even more annoying I haven't been able to get the shopping delivered meaning I have had to go and get it myself which I haven't really got time for.

Any way onto more enjoyable things, we had a stall at Totnes show which was at the end of August and we actually had a nice sunny day, the crowds weren't there this year, this may be because the show had to be postponed from the end of July due to the weather.  The weather played a big part in the next show which was a little local show at Lustleigh and because it was a bank holiday weekend the weather forecast contained a severe weather warning for the Monday, the day of the show.  We did consider not going but it was too local to just not turn up.  As normal it wasn't as bad as forecast and we actually set up in the dry, then the rain showers came in but it wasn't as bad as they said.  We had a lovely day and sold a reasonable about of products, spoke to lots of people about Alpacas but I am sure the weather forecast put a lot of people off.

On the Thursday that week it was off to Honiton Show, well that was a show that should have been called off, the mud was terrible, trouble was you needed a tractor to pull you in and that just made the mud worst.  Once in the show ran really well, we had a very small show team as this show had also been postponed so I didn't take some of the females who had been entered for the earlier show.it turned out to be a enjoyable day, lots of Alpaca chat and time to catch up with old friends.

I have spent a lot of time over the school holidays looking after the Grandchildren, we have been on the moors climbing up on the rocks or swimming in the river, them not me, but they seem to have most fun in the trough, who needs theme parks! not sure there is a need for googles though.




We seem to have got very late with our breedings this year, so far we have three definitely spitting off, one who seems to like to be bred every other week, one who was bred, then sat, then refuse to bred with our preferred male, then sat and then decided preferred male was OK after all and dropped like a stone at first sight. Now our last three females to give birth are nearly ready to rebreed and I keep changing my mind over which male to use over which one. We will not bred after the end of the month so fingers crossed they will be ready by then.  We had decided not to breed our youngsters until next spring but then the opportunity to use a outside stud came along so we have given it a go.

Yesterday we went off to our local show 'Widecombe Fair' of Uncle Tom Cobley Fame, we took along all of last years babes, all girls two whites, two browns, a fawn and and a fancy, so a nice group who took great interest in their surroundings and had an admiring audience all day.  We were very busy on the stall, the yarns, knitwear, socks and scarves proved very popular.  It was a really good day, we saw lots of our neighbours who we don't see very often, didn't see anything else on the fair field as I didn't have time to leave the stall.

So thats it for shows for this year so now we have time to relax a little, maybe.

Still a lot of hay down for some though!

Maybe spend a bit more time out on the moors, we have a Llama walk booked in for Saturday.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Especially for Hannah

Olivia with Fandango
Just a quick post tonight especially for one of our guests who left just after a cria had been born, I promised to post some pictures, so here goes.

We had three females due to give birth and they have all now delivered, so that it for this years cria and we are already looking forward to next years.  First to produce was Olivia who gave us a lovely Dark Brown male from Wessex Mambo, lovely looking boy weighing in at 8.5 kilos.

Than on Monday we woke up and checked the female field via Alpaca Cam to find a little brown cria sat up next to the hay rack and another little brown cria running around the field.  Sure there was only one the night before !  When we arrived at the field we discovered Marietta had produce a little, well quite big really Dark Brown Male by Inca Cayanne weighing in at 9 Kilos.
Marietta's Cria 

Just a couple of hours later it was obvious Carla was also about to give birth.  I had the Grandsons for the day and we were just about to go for a swim down the river, so change of plan, picnic in the field.  So there we were sitting on a rug in the field eating our picnic, watching Carla sitting down, getting up, rolling around and then there was a nose, then a leg, more head, still one leg.  well I thought this is going to be fun, stroppy, spitty female, cria with one leg back, two small boys who couldn't help much although they offered.  Luckily Steve was on his way back from a spot of grass cutting, so help was on it's way.  Once Steve was able to hold Carla with her face firmly held facing away from me, I was able to locate the other leg and manoeuvre it into position, shortly after Carla delivered a very white female cria by our Stud Male Caliban.
Carla & Cria


Just thought I would share this picture of Josh & Grandad loading the Tractor on to the trailer.











Loads more to report but really need to go to bed now so will update again soon.

Monday 13 August 2012

Finally someone sees sense.

It has been well over a week since the fire and I know I wanted a quieter time but absolutely nothing has changed in our farmyard.  The hay which was pulled out of the fire was heaped up but it got so hot there was a danger of it bursting into flames, the fire brigade covered it with foam and said it was a fire risk.  The loss assessors looked at it and went away, then they said it was up to us to get someone to move it at which point everyone got mad and some rather heated phone calls and e.mails later and the insurance company said they would deal with it.  Turns out that our contaminated waste was going to cost to much to move but if they could get some one to pick out the big bits of asbestos roofing it would be OK to remove, not sure the insurance company who is going to pay for the removal should be the ones to decide how it is removed.
We can't drive into the yard so everything has to be carried over the pile of hay, really annoying when we have to load the car to go to Okehampton show.

The final straw this week was when the insurance company decided to offer a settlement value on Steves mowing deck which was £650 less than the cost of replacement.  We can't find a secondhand deck anywhere in the country as they only come with the tractor.  At this point Steve lost it as he said, why should we be out of pocket because someone else was responsible for burning the barn down.  Anyway finally today after a whole afternoon of Steve shouting (something he never does) down the phone at the loss adjusters and anyone else he could get hold of, they got the message.  They are going to pay for a new deck.  At least Steve can now go to work and we can start to earn some money, that is if the rain stops.

Everything else is running smoothly, I had a day at Okehampton show last Thursday which was a bit disappointing, weather was lovely just too many Alpaca stalls all together, not sure we will bother with that one next year.
Saturday we went to Holne fate which was a great afternoon out and we took the stall and a few Alpacas which created a lot of interest, this turned out to be better than Okehampton Show in respect of takings. Tomorrow we are off to Widecombe in the Moor for a Fun day in aid of Leusdon Church, I think the same group of girls will be going and hopefully the weather will be kind to us.

We are still waiting for our next cria we currently have Olivia on 334, Carla 324  and Marietta 322 days.  Still that gives me an opportunity to sit and watch, some me time all in the name of work, all is not bad really!

Monday 6 August 2012

More excitement

If last week wasn't enough today has been just as exciting.
We had another day of people coming and going, we now have a new electric pole but no electric on it as yet.  they were hoping to have it fixed but our road has been closed for pot hole filling and the lorry couldn't get here so thats another day with the generator.  Funny things have been happening with our alarm clocks since the fire we keep getting up early!  I checked the clock when we went to bed and the time was correct by morning it is half to an hour fast so the alarm goes off, this has happened every morning since Friday but strangely the same thing has happened to Rogers alarm clock, now that can't be a coincidence.  They are both electric clocks which set their own time and always change them selfs when the clocks go bcd/forward when necessary so why should they both gain over night?  Got to be something to do with the transformer exploding.

Anyway today started off quite enough, picked the boys up whilst daughter went to work, hospital appointment, got back Steve was fixing the TV bracket when we got a phone call from one of our guests to say they were stuck on Mel Tor and couldn't get back as one of them had Parkinsons and had lost the use of her legs.  Could we pick them up with the Landrover, we knew where they were so off we went.  Unfortunately we couldn't get very close so had no option but to ring for help, half an hour later Police Helicopter with Paramedic on board arrived and after finding a suitable spot our guest was rescued and had a short ride in the Helicopter back to the Car Park where their car was.  Obviously this caused a great excitement in the car park and lots of photos were taken ( sorry can't show people ones as I didn't as permission).

Safely back in the carpark
Holiday snaps with a difference I think.  I advised the to have a quite day tomorrow as I can't cope with all the excitement!

Sunday 5 August 2012

Red Sky and lots of Smoke means......

Well we have had one hell of a week, we were resting on our laurels thinking things would calm down after the hay was in.  How wrong we were.  The week started of quite nicely, the weather wasn't too bad, the cottage guests were all settled in, all the animals were well and munching away on their grass.  I was even seeing light at the end of the tunnel with the accounts.  Then we got to Thursday, Steve went to work in the morning and I spent most of the day doing the accounts and watching the Alpacas just incase one of the three decided to give birth.  I was just finishing when Steve rang to say I better get home as there was a bit of a disaster happening, the Dutch Barn at home was on fire.  Steve had seen the smoke on his way home and had worked out that it must have been either our neighbours or our property but could see exactly where it was.  He was nearly home before he could see it was on our farm.  Not knowing if it was the house or the farm buildings he tried to get home quickly, not day when you have got holiday makers stopping to look at ponies etc.  As he got nearer he could see it was the barn and yes it was the barn where we put all of his brothers hay last week.  By the time I got there there was three fire engines in the road, the barn was well alight and bits of roof flying off everywhere.

Steves brother had been up in the field when he heard the transformer which is on a pole opposite the barn explode apparently a neighbour saw the flames shoot up into the sky.  A short while later the barn was on fire.

So at the moment it is a bit of a mess here, we have a generator as we have no electric supply, we have a large pile of socking wet scorched hay in the yard.  The remains of the tractor, baler and who knows what else are still in what remains of the still smouldering barn.


Friday there was a steady stream of men in suits, electricity men etc  I did feel sorry for the guy who just happened to be in the area checking the electric poles, I said you better come and check this one then, his face was a picture when he walked round the corner and saw the barn still smoking and his electric pole black and charred.



The rest of the weekend has past in a whirl, change overs in the cottages, we discovered a leaking tap in one and a TV bracket broken in the other, on the plus side we have been out for dinner at friends for the last three evenings so it's not all bad. I really hope next week is better

Sunday 29 July 2012

Sun, Hay and Walks

Well we had about 8 days of dry weather and we made the most of it!
Friends at the top of Cordon Tor
We had 5 llama walks booked in and we managed to do all of them with just one shower of rain on the first one.  We have had a good selection of clients from young children to eighty year olds, locals and from foreign parts, we eaten Lunches, Cream Teas and Strawberries and Cream, drunk numerous cups of tea, coffee, apple juice etc, had a lovely time on all of them and this is what we call 'Work'

View of Home
In between doing all this walking we have made Hay infact we have made our Hay and Steve's Brothers Hay and for the first time in years we didn't have to rush to get it in.  So we had 520 ish small bales stashed in the Barn, we have now sold 150 and have another 200 to sell. My part in this was to provide gallons of cold drinks and food when needed. (think I got off lightly) it is a very hot and dusty Job I am told.

A break in Hay Making
The holiday Cottages are full we had a couple of weeks with German guests and dispite having terrible weather they all seem to enjoy themselves and were very interested in the Alpacas and Llamas coming out to feed up each morning and then going off to explore the moor etc.  The last week we had British guest, didn't see them all week in fact don't think they got up much before lunch time and it was glorious weather, really can't understand it.

View from our Hay Field
I am now on Cria watch again, we have three females due in August and the first one Olivia is now 320 days, she is huge and sits around a lot although not as big and wide as Marietta who is not due until 24th Aug.  We weighed them all this morning and Marietta has put on 7kg in 3 weeks which seems a lot to me.


Marietta looking very wide

 Just though I would put a couple of pictures of the girls when they spotted something in their field!




And what was causing all this concern?



Well it's a stray cat we have seen around the fields for a few days.


Today we had several rain showers and the weather forecast is changeable, so I think we have returned to normal British Summer.

Thursday 12 July 2012

Here comes the Sun!

Well it did put in an appearance on Tuesday (the sun that is)

I have been having problems sitting down to write anything on the Blog since my last entry mainly because I found it very hard dealing with losing Murphy,  Some animals just have a bigger impact on your life than others.  For several days I didn't want to even go to the llama field, even contemplated giving up the llama walks all together.  Steve as always was more philosophical about these matters said that it wasn't the time to make that sort of decision and as we have lots of booking we really would just have to carry on.  It is getting better every day but I still think about our gorgeous young llama.

So whats been happening here?, well  it has rained a lot!, we have got very wet a lot!, we haven't done much work, we have canceled several llama walks but we are surviving.

Tiffany
We have had some good times, the last of our first batch of cria arrive two weeks ago, another girl from Cassini, she is either dark fawn or light brown, sired by Inca Picasso.  She weighed in at 9kgs and just like Picassos cria from last year, full of beans with huge legs very big boned but like Cassini's cria last year Choc Ice she isn't growing very fast, it is a worry as she won't take a bottle, just like Choc Ice, she is active but not as much as the other two, feeds from Mum a lot and is already picking at grass she has been named Tiffany.  Choc Ice has caught up with the rest of last years crias now, but we probably won't breed Cassini again as there is no point if she isn't going to produce good strong babies and she could pass on her problems.

Cassini & Tiffany
We decided to have a couple of days away, go and see my sister in Emsworth and pop up to Hampton Court Show as it was forecast to be raining any way.  So looking at the forecast, Thursday seemed to be the obvious day to go, there was a amber weather warning for heavy rain!  We both had full days work booked in but if it was wet that would be called off and we could leave after we had feed all the animals.  Thursday dawned and there was a strange light in the sky, there was blue bits and a certain glow (think thats called sunshine)  so off to work we went and it stayed dry all day, we finally left about 6pm.
Very easy drive, hardly any traffic and we arrived in Emsworth about 3.5 hours later after stopping for something to eat.  Friday we went to Hampton Court, it rained but it was very good and we had a lovely day although some of the show gardens looked like they needed a good go with the Strimmer, I think they call them Natural gardens, I call it long grass & weeds!
We went out for a lovely meal in the evening with my sister and brother in law, had a lovely time catching up with family news etc.  After a big breakfast we set off for home about 10am we arrived back at 6.15 pm after spending most of the day trying to get through Dorset, we tried Bridport, then Yeovil and then Crewkerne, sat in lots traffic queues which weren't going anywhere,  Finally managed to take some small roads across country to Beaminster going through some floods which I am sure we probably shouldn't have and finally getting back on to the A35 and home.  Just in time to get changed and go out for Dinner with friends, exhausted.
Choc Ice
Tigerlily
Last Sunday we took three Alpacas, Choc Ice, Tigerlily and Lalique to our annual Animal Service on the village green, very Vicar of Dibley.  Our guests in the holiday cottages came along with their children, they are from Berlin and had a lovely time, afterwards they said to me they thought it was very English.  I don't think the Alpacas were as impressed they wanted to get back in the trailer as soon as they could I had to stand on the ramp for a while to keep them in the pen, as soon as the service was over they shot back in. while we had a cream tea and a chat to everyone else who had brought various animals along.
Olympus

Hummingbird
We have had one of the cottages empty this week which is un usual at this time of the year but it has been so wet, nobody is booking last minute with the forecasts we have been having. I feel so sorry for our German family, they have driven all the from Berlin and all it has done since they arrived is rain.  The first thing they asked was where can we buy waterproofs! poor things.  The children have been coming out to help feed up in the mornings, which they love and their English is so good, they are 7 & 5 which really puts us to shame.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

My Poor Gorgeous Boy

I was going to write this blog on Sunday with news of new cria, Summers new home and breedings but on Saturday Murphy our gorgeous young male llama wasn't feeling his normal self.  At first we thought he had some Colic which normally passes without treatment but he was no better on Sunday.  A visit from the Vet, antibiotics and pain killer administered, fingers crossed he would improve.  His symptoms were similar to our female Alpaca who was so ill last year, nerological twitches, excitable but he also had problems with his sight.  We then suspected he had eaten something poisonous possibly Bracken as the symptoms fitted.  By late Monday he had suffered a fit and it didn't look good, our vet came out and he was given some steriods and some Vit B1 drench, he got really stressed out by this and was very upset we settled him for the night and left him with a companion, he was sitting up and seem alert.
When we arrived at the Barn this morning he had died in the night,  I am absolutely devastated, Murphy has been a dream since the day he was born, he was calm, friendly and so easy to handle, he has been trekking with us since he was weaned, he was starting to carry a pack and a favourite with all our customers and he will be missed very much.

He really was growing into a very handsome boy.
We have had a PM which as usual came back inconclusive but thankfully there was no signs of TB, Liver Fluke or Worm burden which is encouraging for the rest of the team.

Our other news will have to wait for another day.

Thursday 7 June 2012

Bit like the Hokey Cokey here

Well as usual after shearing the weather has reverted to something like November, so everything has been in.  The pregnant females/ Mums have been in and out of the Barn several times a day sometimes.  The young Females are tucked p in the Stock trailer when the weather is bad and out in the track when the rain stops for a few minutes.  They are not sensible enough to go in when it saris raining so we have to put them in and let them out when we can otherwise they sit there shivering.  Atlas and Prospect are in the little field shelter and look quite cosy, only going out when it dries up a bit.  We had one of the llamas shorn and Logan who thinks he is a llama but there is no shelter in there field so they have been in the barn for a few days which they were really fed up about.  So as it was drier yesterday we took them back to there mates in the field as you can see they are wearing some very fetching coats which are keeping the worst of the rain off.



Our little grey female cria is growing well and turning into a little thug, barging into the females trying to get someone to play with her, she desperately needed a play mate!  Mica and Cassini didn't seem in any hurry to provide one with all this bad weather.  Monday promised to be the best day of the week and I had a feeling Mica was going to produce her cria when I looked at her first thing.  Even though it was a bank holiday it was dry and I needed to get some work done so I dashed off to the first job which was about 2 hours work, dashed back to check Mica...... Grazing. Off to second job another hour and a half, back for lunch
and check Mica...... definitely uncomfortable, I sat in the office to observe, our holiday cottage guests were watching from the balcony, poor Mica, no privacy.  About an hour later she had given birth to a lovely mid fawn boy who was cushed within minutes, inspected by the herd and up on his feet very quickly.  Hummingbird had been waiting nearly two weeks for this, was there in a flash, nudging him and dancing around so excited.  He wasn't interested in finding the milk bar as plying with Hummingbird was far more interesting.  So fearing that he would exhaust himself before feeding I put mum and babe in the pen, that did it, straight to the milk bar, no messing about with sucking front legs, belly, barn walls etc.  Once he had had a good feed and a little rest I let them back out with the herd and Hummingbird.  At three hours old he could give her a run for her money, chasing each other round and round the field.  I think this one ( now named Olympus) is going to be a bit of a character, not surprising really as he has both of our '96' imports in his family both of which are great characters and have a lot of attitude, just hope he has the fineness from Carla's side and the denseness of Demeter, he is a lovely shape and his fleece is very bright and crimpy, but who can tell at this stage.
Since Monday it has rained and the two youngsters have been confined to the barn for most of the time but when they have been let into the field for brief periods they have taken advantage and entertained us and our guests with their antics.

Today it has been foul, gale force winds, heavy rain all day, everyone is in and still shivering.  Cassini is looking really uncomfortable so I don't think she will be long now then we have a break until the end of July before the next batch are due.


Monday 28 May 2012

Just what we ordered

To say we have been busy would be a understatement, we had 3 days at Devon County show which was very enjoyable and successful.  We took 6 animals and came away with a 1st, 2nd and 2 x4th which we were really pleased with.
Since then the weather has been great and if I dare say it slightly too warm especially for working, but we had work to do as well as topping the fields as the grass is growing a pace.  Our holiday cottages have been a bit hectic with several short breaks which are always a bit harder with all the washing etc but at least it was easy to get it dry.
We have been on Cria watch for several weeks now with three females in their birthing window, Lily was due first.  Loopy Lily as she is affectionately called, is dark brown with some grey patches now showing through as she gets older, she has been mated to Humming Rolex who is a Rose Grey.  Steve has been saying for months that she is going to have a rose grey female, so it was becoming a bit of a joke every time he came back from the field.  So last Wednesday I was doing a change over in the cottages before going to work, I checked Lily before I left and she was grazing near the top fence, fine I thought I was only going to be a couple of hours so I could check her again then.  I drove off to my job which was five minutes down the road, I had just parked the car when the customer came out and said "Steve said its a rose grey female" I laughed then it dawn on me that they didn't know the in joke!  Steve had gone back to the field just after I left and saw a huddle of females so when to investigate and found Lily had dropped her cria and yes it was a rose grey female, just as he had ordered.


So while I had to carry on working Steve spent the next couple of hours sitting in the sun watching Lily and her cria doing everything just as the text book says.  When I got back cria was up and just about to find the milk bar, I asked Steve why he decided to sit and watch as we usually give them some space, turns out I had driven off with his car keys so he couldn't have gone to work anyway!
Once we had seen the cria suck we went off and did another job, the weather was very hot, too hot for strimming long grass but it had to be done.  We got back to the field and the cria was flat out, I hate it when they do that! this time though it was flat, Steve lifted her up and she was all floppy, alive but very weak.  So we carried her into the field shelter with Lily in hot pursuit, firstly I thought she may be dehydrated so gave her some boiled water then I check Lily had milk, she had a very full udder so with a little bit of a struggle I managed to take some milk off and feed her that. I checked her temperature that was fine so we decided to leave them in the shelter and go home for a while and watch on the camera.
This is a bit long winded but after a while the cria sat up and was trying to get up, we went back to check her properly before it got dark, she was very weak still so I rubbed some honey on her gums, fed her some more milk and left them for the night, dreading what I would find in the morning.
Really didn't want to look at the camera first thing but I still got up about 6am to see cria sat upright with Lily next to her, so I made a cup of tea, took the computer back up to bed and watched for a while before the cria got up and had a good feed from Mum.
When we got to the field both Mum and babe were stood at the gate waiting to get out,  They ran off down the field to the others, the cria had not quite got control of her legs bounded after mum and did a great impression of Bambi when she tried to stop at fence.
To cut a long story short, she has gone from strength to strength and is now terrorising all the other females by barging and jumping on them, she really needs a playmate. She now has a name Hummingbird after her sire.

Sunday 6 May 2012

Waiting game

This past week has flown by, where has the year gone.  we are now waiting for our first cria of the year to arrive, that is expected cria after last weeks sad event!
We have three females just coming into their birthing window, Loopy Lily is first, she is mated to our grey Male Humming Rolex, she is dark brown with grey bits so who knows what to expect.  Then Mica is close behind, she is a maiden so we will keep a close eye on her.  Cassini is the last of this batch she has been bred to Inca Picasso, now last year she has Choc Ice who is a fancy sired by Golden Nugget (fawn) so it will be interesting to see what pops out this time.
Choc Ice looking like a hay stack

The next batch are due later in the summer hopefully giving us a couple of months to watch the first group grow up a bit before the new ones arrive.
All the pregnant females are now in the paddocks covered by the camera so we can keep a watch over them.
Our old female Carla caused some concern this morning, whilst feeding I notice she was walking slightly exaggerating her step, it wasn't much but this is something we noticed last year with Marietta when she was so ill, turned out to be Selenium deficiency.  So she had a drench of Selenium & Colbalt straight away, the rest will have some once I have been to Mole Valley to restock.

Our Holiday Cottages are full now and we only have one full week left until the end of August now, there are a few odd days when we have no one in one or the other but not much, even taken a booking for next year already.  So I need to get back into the routine of change overs, washing, ironing, making scones etc.  It can be hard work especially if the weather is bad and I have to dry washing inside, our pitch can look like a chinese laundry sometimes, but we do meet some lovely people and it is nice when they come back year after year.  Last weeks guests we met for the first time when we went to collect the llamas one day last summer, they were sat in the sunshine just by the field gate which is on the open moor.  So they were a bit surprised to see us turn up with the trailer and get 4 Llamas and an Alpaca out of the field.  Any way we got talking and discovered they were on holiday but would love to actually stay on Dartmoor. Can't miss an opportunity like that so we told them about our cottages and a few weeks later they booked their next weeks holiday and they say they will be back next year.  So if you fancy a holiday on Dartmoor have a look at our site www.newcott-farm.co.uk
Holiday Cottages

We are off to North Somerset show tomorrow just for a look around as I missed the closing date for entries.  So we will check out the Alpacas and the Llamas and catch up with a few friends and may be have time to look at the rest of the show as well for a change.