We moved here from an urban environment in 2019. The initial idea was never to have a sanctuary but, well, once you have saved a few lives, it is very difficult to stop!

With a love of animals, our initial thoughts for this plot of just under three acres was to have a few chickens and perhaps an alpaca.

In fact, first arrivals were our pair of Golden Guernsey goats, Ronnie and Reggie (the least gangster looking animals you’ll see). Our first couple of sheep followed, by which time our numbers of rescued dogs and cats had also started to multiply.

Volunteering at Billy Thompson’s Retreat sanctuary followed and this has seen an influx of other animals. Two sheep came, then three more. Nicky was at The Retreat for her birthday and Billy gave her a ‘present’ of Anatolian Shepherd dog, Amber, rescued from Turkey. One Mother’s Day brought another present, Milo, a one-week old lamb. Billy has a great ability to charm people into rehoming!

By this stage, we had made the decision to register as a sanctuary. We now have 20 sheep, seven goats, two pigs, three turkeys, and around 35 chickens, plus seven rescue cats and eight dogs.

Most of the farmed animals and several dogs have come from The Retreat; the pigs came via a small volunteer-led charity, Every Pig Rescue Service. Helped by our wonderful volunteers, a hugeamount of work has gone on in a short space of time, with shelters and houses for all the animals. It is a lovely spot, surrounded by fruit farms, and our nearest neighbour sometimes donates fruit to feed the animals.  

Like all sanctuaries, we have seen a steep increase in the cost of feed and have high vet bills. A single bill for one of our chickens needing crop surgery was £1000. She pulled through and is now doing well.

We are pleased to welcome people by prior arrangement and on an invitation basis. We also take placements of students from Canterbury College’s animal care course (with gentle but firm nudging towards veganism and activism for animals, with some impressive results!).

There are many, many regular tasks associated with a sanctuary, including all of the feeding and cleaning – it is truly a labour oflove. Another problem is that a typical ten minute task will often take an hour because of all the cuddles that have to be administered!