How it all began

I always had a love of animals and nature, from the age of two when I made my first “dog” Minty ball, and dragged it around the garden on a length of string. Seeing the most beautiful creature ever I picked up and gently carried a slug, proudly in to show my horrified mum, asking if I could keep him for a pet! I was allowed my first real dog at sevenand have not spent more than two weeks since without at least one! Horses were my next passion and after a few years of lessons and careful hoarding of birthday, ice cream, holiday and pocket money at thirteen I bought my first pony, a somewhat crazy New Forest mare, Knuckles. I kept her locally and got involved on the farm teaching calves to drinkmilk from buckets. At sixteen, I found that Knuckles was in foal, Easter arrived a few days later, an immaculate conception, born at Easter! Sadly when I went to college, my mum sold them to friends, as I was unable to look after them easily! Easter lived a great life until she was 32 and I managed to ride her sometimes.

Being an only child, I read avidly and also had non- fiction books weekly from the library, copying pictures of every breed of dog, cat and horse I could find. I learned to sew buttons on hankies and embroidery stitches from my aunt. I was taught knitting and made a cross stitch tray cloth at school and by nine had made my first lacy matinee coat. I was bought a microscope and spent happy hours, making a nature corner, learning from slides about a fascinating world. At Grammar school, I spent lunch times rescuing baby frogs in my sandwich box, and returning them to the safety of the pond! I took my O level Art a year early and studied sculpture as a new subject!

My parents did not like cats, so as soon as I had my own place to live I had a couple of cats and have always had since. We had a stray long haired cat, when we first bought our land, very timid, whoproduced kittens in the hay barn, we supplemented their food, then she took her babies to the next farm as soon as they were big enough! Queenie returned to have a second litter, fortunately in a stable, so that she and the kittens could be fastened in. My friend tried cat charities, but being feral, they would not take them in. They did agree to neuter all of them if we would take responsibility, so some were rehomed to a farm and Jessie, Buzz and Woody became permanent residents, along with their mum when she felt like visiting, with the freedom of lots of land. Now only Jessie is still with us, but she does have the company of a neighbour’s cat Ginger, who regularly arrives at feed time! Last year we realised there weretwo tiny kittens, born under wooden pallets, covered with a tarpaulin, unfortunately they weren’t discovered until we found mother cat dead! They were of course feral and it took several days of feeding to catch them, we kept them in an outbuilding, gradually being allowed to stroke backswhile eating, finally they were persuaded into a cat carrier and brought home to safety. They have the most amazing temperaments, Blackie and Patchy, very quickly won over our older house cat Belle, so three cats!

My next acquisition was Oscar the goat, as a young adult with a small daughter, at a local craft centre, I found that Billy goat kids apparently taste like chicken and are thus used, being surplus to requirements! Needless to say, I asked if I could have the baby, sitting on my knee, took him to the pub I was living in and bottle reared him on calf milk. At 6 months old, uncastrated and becoming very stinky, I found him a home with nanny goats! In those days there was no requirement to register ownership or movement of livestock!

So some years passed bringing up my family of three daughters, with dogs and cats, making rag dolls, a doll’s house, knitting and sewing, I learned to crochet and ran a small business painting pet portraits! I also learned how to make wine! In between I started to write and illustrate a couple of books, for children! 

As my oldest child wanted to ride and had lessons, the idea of having another pony, became more and more attractive, so a two years old Welsh filly joined the family, fresh from a sheep farm and a little wild, with love and work she was eventually backed and took great care of my then five years old twins! Being considerably lighter then, I taught her some dressage, so she was a very responsive ride, but always aware when she had children, on board, that she was safe and didn’t make any fast movements! Of course back in a world of horses, it was only a matter of time, before a slightly bigger Chantilly,then a Welsh/Thoroughbred, in foal to an Appaloosa,came into our lives Shah was born on 14.05 97, and 12 months on we swapped the outgrown Chantilly for his yearling half -sister Holly born 1.05.97 

We decide to buy our own land

2007 and it became necessary, due to a sad death and sale of the farm I had been part of since 1969, for us to rehome. We were lucky to purchase 3 acres of beautiful countryside, complete with barn and outbuildings! Water was laid on, horse safe fencing erected and my registration with a CPH number set up. We had our Holly, Shah and Beauty, along with a Shetland Ruby and a half Thoroughbred Ellie, also un homed and belonging to a dear friend from childhood! After a few months we managed to rent, then acquire an adjacent four-and-a-half-acre fieldand ultimately made our own hay. 

By 2010 we had moved closer to our land, I had my first Silkies and Sussex cockerel chicks, built my first henhouse and learned the hard way, that Silkies don’t mature in the same way as chickens and of my four chicks, I had three boys and only one girl, much to the hilarity of friends. However, they were all happy together so Bobby and Ginger along with Phoebe who became Philby had more girls bought to look after| Now we have a lovely boy called Jet Lee, four hens, a White Sussex Opal, a black one called Topaz,two brown hybrids, Ivy and Jingle and a young SilkieWallace, who is waiting for his own harem!

Growing business ideas

As our land has lots of plum and damson trees, we planted apple trees and crab apple to pollinate them and for the bees and insects, pears and also discovered Blackthorn with sloes I also have a large polytunnel in which I grow tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, cucumbers, peas etc. I had for some time been making wine and jam and it occurred to me to make damson gin, at first for gifts then due to popular demand! So the Haybarn brand was born, homemade jams, chutneys, various gins, fudge and chocolates. 

2021 Fast approaching retirement looming and in no way really ready, I decided to get a spinning wheel, the first was an ebay, close to home and not expensive purchase. I watched the tutorials and tried, but eventually came the realisation that my treasure was for cotton spinning! I found a colleague who had sheep and got my first fleece, washed, carded into a huge pile on the sideboard, much to the bemusement of husband, family and friends, ready to be spun… new Spinning wheel time! I had originally thought about spinning fur from our two Standard Poodles Poppy and Jazzy, but read that it tends to felt, so undaunted, I was shown how to felt and made a flat cap! I also had a weaving loom as a birthday present! My new wheel arrived and was duly assembled and joyfully my spinning journey began…. No wait…. Wouldn’t it be a great idea to have my own sheep??

I had researched over the years, different breeds of sheep, Shetlands no shearing, but tend to escape! had a Haynes manual on sheep for my birthday! I liked the Dutch spotted, as they have lovely wool black, white and mixes of those as well as youngsters having soft brown fleeces, but mostly looking on line, there were none close to, I even considered Angora goats, but again, none close enough! So how amazing was it to discover, that my lovely colleague had both Texel and Dutch Spotted Sheep and was bringing me photos of the lambs? At the time, I was working, so decided that 2022 would be a better year and I would like three! Sadly my friends horse Ellie had to be put down due to nerve damage, Holly and Shah had been with her from youngsters and missed her terribly!