Chloe enjoys walking the friendly alpacas around the ring at shows.
Shirley Tart meets some exotic residents of Knockin Heath – and their owners!
Shepherding the flock seems to be a natural for some people. Take the Reverend Harry Edwards, committed and devoted chaplain at Shropshire’s Severn Hospice. While sometimes tough and heart-tugging, his life is also tremendously rewarding – and he loves it.
But when Harry goes home to wife Roz and daughter Chloe, he has another role. One which may be different but which needs some of the same qualities of love and care.
Roz teaches at Packwood School where seven-year-old Chloe is also a pupil. But once the three meet up, clerical collar and school uniform give way to wellies and woollies as they become gentle shepherds of their other life – a herd of lovely alpacas.
It is easy to see the appeal of breeding and rearing alpacas, with their big eyes, endearing curiosity and friendliness. There are several herds in and around Shropshire, each attractive and each with its own characteristics.
All owners get a tad soppy about their delightful charges. Even poetic. On their Mulberry Alpacas website, alongside ‘aah’ factor pictures, Harry and Roz enthuse: “Abigail is Taun We’s 2007 baby – she’s adorable and we can’t wait to work with her fleece. Claudio is a quality boy with beautiful white fleece, and so much of it. He’s soon to start work as a stud – oh, boy!
“Mr Biggles is top dog among the boys but a real gentleman who charms the ladies and sires stunning babies. And Tom Thumb is a cheeky chap with a fine, dark brown fleece. He’s so popular with children and aspires to be a big boy one day.”
Dreamy stuff, isn’t it?
Harry says: “We enjoy the charm and therapeutic value of our small herd and love to share our experience with anyone interested. There is a special thrill to see garments produced from the fleece of an animal we know. We always thank them for producing such warm and beautiful scarves, hats and jumpers!”
Mulberry Alpacas enjoy the autumn sunshine.
At home with Harry, Roz and Chloe in their idyllic Shropshire setting at Knockin Heath, near Oswestry, talk is wide-ranging but always drifts back to alpacas. Which in turn, leads to a meander down to meet them.
They are wonderfully inquisitive animals, sometimes peering with those saucer eyes beneath big and bouncy hairdos, or neck stretching way ahead so as not to miss a thing. But how did this alpaca adventure begin for an already busy family?
In their warm, farmhouse-style kitchen Harry says: “We moved here seven years ago after I’d gone full time at the hospice. We had the chance to buy a couple of paddocks and looked at all sorts of things we might use them for. We’d read articles about alpacas and it suddenly seemed a really good thing to do.”
So they did. That first little group has been joined by others, their babies, even a long-term visitor. As well as knowing each by name, the family also know character, likes and dislikes . . . and are creating a lovely business out of alpaca fleeces, now on display in a specially converted garden room.
Roz says: “They are very peaceful and relaxing when you are among them. We feel it’s all about balancing your life and this was something we could do together as a family.”
Chloe joins in to tell me about her own role walking alpacas around the ring at shows across the country. She has her own little white coat and is as hooked as mum and dad.
When it comes to knitting up the wonderfully soft and warm wool, Roz does some, Chloe makes pom-poms and they have outside knitters – including some hospice patients. Harry says: “They are so interested in the alpacas, it’s my ambition to take some of the young ones in to see them.”
Roz and Chloe bring out lunch.
A first for hospice visitors?
Meanwhile back at the ranch, life includes sending alpacas for breeding, welcoming new babies, wondering how they will develop – and this year having a few stranded elsewhere until bluetongue restrictions were lifted.
Happily, on my visit all were safely gathered in, including new baby Bethany and handsome grey chap Mr Biggles who, with Tom Thumb, was first of the flock. Mr B causes a bit of a quandary when it comes to breeding. To put it delicately, he doesn’t like lovely black ladies. Any other colour, yes, black, no. A bit dodgy if you are looking for black fleeces. The story of how everyone deals with Mr Biggles is hilarious – but for another day!
As for charmer Claudio, Harry was asked early on when he was going to show him.
He grins: “I couldn’t even put a halter on him. But we then did four or five weeks halter training and though I’d never towed a trailer, off we went to Malvern Show. We had to take all three with us because we couldn’t leave two behind.”
After such a stressful experience, they didn’t hold out hope. But once in the ring, Claudio walked round like an old pro and won a third-prize rosette! An amazed Roz said: “It was like National Velvet!”
Once they got as far as fleeces (their own and some bought in) and found a mini mill at Denbigh, it was all systems go for the next stage. Roz’s mum Lynne began selling some products in her Melverley craft centre. But since that’s only seasonal, the couple wanted a more permanent display. And now they have it, from hats and scarves to jumpers and jackets and even knitters who will tackle beautiful full-length coats and other special orders.
The wonder of woollies, Alpaca style!
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