Hedge-laying retreats

Every year at Haye we do hedge laying

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The ponies

Our ponies are mum Grace and daughter May. They’re Dartmoor ponies and would have died during the annual cull. They’re pretty much still wild: Grace is quite friendly and will probably come to the fence and say hello, but May tends to keep her distance.

The donkeys

Woody and Zippy are ex-beach donkeys, enjoying a well-earned retirement. They love to be groomed and are both patient and gentle.

The bantams

The bantams are Princess, Duchess, and Countess. They were unwanted pets, kept in a very small coop and run. Bantams are small chickens and lay tiny little eggs. Ours are ridiculously fluffy and can be making cute chirpy noises one minute and squawking their heads off the next.

The chickens

Not all the chickens have names yet but they have very different personalities: Blanche likes you to stay three metres away from her but Sneezy will hang around by your feet; June adores May the pony, Skitty is last to go to bed and first to find an adventure. Two of them are ex-caged and the other 10 are from “free range” systems. Ask us what we think of “free range” systems…

We don’t eat eggs so you’re welcome to have as many as you like and take some home.

Our cats

The cats are Alfie, Olivia, and Marcel. All three were kittens from unwanted litters. Alfie is extremely friendly, Olivia will pretend she wants a cuddle but then run off when you get too close, and Marcel will look at you in horror if you approach him.

Our dog

Harvey is the one and only dog. We met him begging for scraps behind a restaurant in Portugal and brought him home (that’s the short version anyway!). He’s a bit old and arthritic now so he limps sometimes and isn’t interested in playing, but he loves cuddles, so if you start petting him you won’t be allowed to stop.