Charlotte's Story

I have always had an interest in animals and was always surrounded by pets when I was a little girl. If I saw an injured or abandoned animal, I had to bring it home and look after it.

 

Along with the regular dogs, cats, birds and fish, I also had ferrets, a ram, a cornsnake and even an orphan squirrel named cyril who took great delight in driving my dogs crazy!

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My dad bought me 12 ex-battery hens from a livestock market when I was 12. The poor things had no feathers and looked so ugly. I was instantly smitten and have loved chickens ever since.

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Having moved out, got married and raised 4 children, we had dogs and cats in the house but then added a few chickens, ducks and geese to the garden during lockdown. My husband insisted that we didnt have the space for any more animals at home so I came up with a plan.....

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As the world returned to normal, I had found a horse to ride as I wanted to re-kindle an interest I had ignored for years. We kept him on a rented field in a nearby village and a chance discussion with the owner turned into a land purchase and Bag End was born, though it wasnt yet a farm.

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With a look of resignation, my husband realised that his trump card of lack of space was no longer applicable. In short order he was employed to build some fences (his new favourite passtime) and chickens and goats started to arrive.

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Since then, we have moved the fences around a lot and have been joined by (in no particular order) chickens, geese, ducks, quails, peacocks, turkeys, an emu, alpaccas, sheep, goats, pigs, ponies and a cow.

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We are set in a beautiful quiet part of a village with a stream at the end of the field. The farm is my favourite place to be and I hope you enjoy watching what we get up to on social media even half as much as I do.