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So when our Consett friends, (whom happened to have emigrated to Dubai  8 years previously) said that we would either love or hate living up here in this little oasis.- Known for having its own weather climate, where the snow settles on the ground for at least 6 months  of the year, -we were keen to see if we had what it takes and embraced the start of Winter, with our new boiler installed and plenty of firewood.    But nothing would prepare us for the Beast from the East. The warnings were clear. Hunker down they said.  We were...

Out came the workhorse and a call to arms to the older children to come help clear the grass cuttings before the new growth rotted beneath. Days and days ensued of collecting it up and ensiling it in the walled feeding section of the front paddock. We have never worked so hard for such a zero gain. A Big Mistake. It wasn’t long into the Spring that we realised that alpacas don’t eat much grass.  By June we were knee deep in the lush green stuff and wondering what an earth we were going to do with it all. A...

First Arrivals on the Farm Meet Ernie 'the eyelash' Alpaca. The first animal additional to the farm were alpacas. Ann and Bev’s pride and joy. After many a number of visits to a farm in Yorkshire, they selected 3 quality females, two of which were mated & carrying cria before they arrived. They settled well in the small rear paddock and kept us fully occupied whilst we tended to them through the harshest winter known in the region for years. Charisma, Cleaopatra and Jamelia the nanny, were a welcome sight every sunrise calling over the fence as we left for...

The Move to Bushblades So there it was, the seed was planted over a boxing day meal with my in-laws, “wouldn’t it be lovely to own a smallholding” my mother in law said, to which I replied “yes, Garry and I could work during the day whilst you pottered around, and we could all tend the farm on the evenings and weekends”…. Oh how life was different then, in our semi-detached house in Sunderland. (Countryfile has a lot to answer for!) Then in June 2015 our dreams were realised. Bushblades Farm popped into Garry’s search on Zoopla and after a...