We moved to Lower Mullacott Farm in 2002 from Martinslade in Wiltshire. The farm had been empty for three years and was completely unmodernised — ready for ‘total renovation’ in the estate agent’s words!

Whilst Kate has been in fulltime regular employment Simon is self employed and has spent every spare minute renovating the house. Previous years have seen plumbing,  electrics, heating, ceilings, damp proofing, floors etc  all installed or replaced. The 2009 project was converting a barn into a swimming pool. 2010 is the year for the garden.

The land had been equally neglected, with free ranging bullocks across the whole farm. We have replaced gates, rebuilt walls, fenced woodland and generally tried to manage the land in a sustainable way.

There are 110 acres, much too much for our small herd of alpacas, so much of the land is rented out on grass keep, but we also make our own hay from it. We keep our alpacas in the fields nearest the house so that we can have maximum interaction and pleasure from them.

As well as the alpacas we have three pigs (free range in a very steep overgrown field), one giant rabbit (Wallace), four farm cats (Smudge, Fluffles, Leo and Tiger), three dogs (Baggins, Jaydee and Ellie) and an aviary of birds.

 

 

A family herd of beautiful alpacas