Rachel’s Diary

Rachel’s diary: the ups and downs of an Alpaca farmer


Harrogate, Polish Visitors And Tons Of Socks!

Hello again after being AWOL for a fortnight. Things got a bit hairy after Devon County Council decided to close [...]

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Flystrike and Sunshine

It is not all plain sailing in alpaca land as bad things do happen. This week it was flystrike that [...]

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Ally Pally and October Sunshine

Finally arrived home from the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace at midnight on Sunday. It was fun, met [...]

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Sloe Gin And Loaded Hedgerows

Home for a week before we set off for The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London. So, [...]

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September Madness!

September is always rather busy. First off was the Southern Wool Show at Newbury that was very successful but I [...]

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Snakes and Hay

Goodness, I could not believe I had found a whole snakeskin when moving some troughs around. It is a big [...]

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Cria Shearing

Back home after four days at the NEC to a pile of work. Unfortunately Chas had a nasty summer cold/flu [...]

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All About Cria

This time of year is all about cria and many more have arrived since the last newsletter. We now have [...]

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Summer Solstice Births

The pace of births is accelerating with nine girls and four boys born already. Two arrived on the Summer Solstice, [...]

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Shearing Day

Tuesday was shearing day, a success, with all 85 alpacas looking clean and lean now that their fleeces are off. [...]

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Devon County Show 2023

Last week was Devon County Show when finally, post Covid, it returned to its normal time in May. This meant [...]

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New Mule

Great excitement here as the new mule arrives, one amazingly versatile farm vehicle. Our old one that we bought in [...]

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Shepherd’s Hut: Open for Business!

At long last our Shepherd’s Hut, the Alpaca Hideaway, is open for business. We have had four sets of guests [...]

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Shows, shows, shows

Exhaustion reigns, honestly we are dead ducks after a weekend at the British Alpaca Society National Show in Telford, followed [...]

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British Alpaca Society National Show

When you read this, Chas and I will be stood up at the British Alpaca Society National Show at the [...]

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Unravel in Farnham

Last weekend we were at Unravel in Farnham, that was a bit of a blast from the past, in that [...]

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That Time of Year

This is the time of year when we sort the wheat from the chaff and decide which of our weanlings [...]

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Castles & Coastlines (and Snow!)

From snowy Northumberland to snowy Devon last Friday, at the end of our short holiday. Probably colder in Devon although [...]

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Unbelievably Wet

It is still unbelievably wet here. We’ve had to move any alpacas that were down in the valley up to [...]

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Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas to you all and thank you for your custom in 2022. Watch out for our next newsletter in [...]

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