The Animals at Haye
All our animals are rescues and we’re very happy to introduce them and tell you their stories. It’s fun and relaxing to stroke them, feed them, groom them, and even just watch them. More rugged guests can help to muck them out.
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, Coco is an elderly chap who was lonely in his old home. They love to be fed hay and are all patient and gentle.
Princess the bantam
Princess was an unwanted pet, kept in a very small coop and run. Bantams are small chickens and lay tiny little eggs. Princess is ridiculously fluffy and can be making cute chirpy noises one minute and squawking her head off the next. She’s small but she’s mighty.
The chickens
Not all the chickens have names yet but they have very different personalities. One of them is from a “free range” systems, the rest are from “organic free range” systems. Ask us what we think of the different types of farming systems hens come from…
Buddy the Kune Kune pig
Buddy was living in a very bad situation and urgently needed a home. We initially planned for him to be a foster but that didn’t last very long!
He came with very dry, very sore skin and he’s a bit thin for a Kune Kune but 5 star living conditions and a good diet should sort that out.
Pigs are social animals so ideally he should have a friend but he’s never lived with a pig and he hasn’t been neutered so he would be a tricky fella to match with.
For now, Buddy is getting loads of enrichment and cuddles and he’s making friends with everyone here.
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 isn’t interested in playing, but he loves cuddles, so if you start petting him you won’t be allowed to stop.