Farm life continues through the festivities but we have managed to carve out some time for connection, celebration and rest amidst all of our usual poo picking and feeding duties! We hope you have too.
We wanted to send a short update, tell you what we've got coming up and share some announcements! If you didn't manage to read our last update in November, you can read it here.
The Storm
Some of you will have seen on our social media platforms (Instagram and Facebook) that we lost two of our shelters during the storms in early December. Thankfully (and quite miraculously) none of the alpacas were harmed despite their shelter flipping a full 180 with them in it! Well, thanks to our trusty machine (and fence and gate and so much more) man, Malcolm, the girls' shelter is now back in use. Sadly, our newest addition is irreparable and will need to be replaced when we can.
Camping and Glamping
Camping and glamping went live in December and we've added some fun extras that you can add to your booking such as wildlife cameras, bat boxes and private alpaca walks! You can book your spot now here!
Alpaca Sales
Over the past four years we've been building our herd and we're now at the point where we are ready to sell some of our herd members. Head to our sales page if you or someone you know would like to buy one (or a few!) of our alpacas. We can also discuss boarding them at our farm if you're not ready with your own land just yet.
At Hideaway Wood Farm our focus is on breeding and caring for healthy, happy alpacas in a natural and respectful way. Read more about our approach to breeding here.
Alpacas in the Village
At the end of December we offered our regular volunteers an opportunity to join us on a completely new walking route for our boys. In preparation for offering a new private trekking package with two route options, we wanted to get them used to walking in the woods and in the village. We even picked up some of our neighbours along the way and brought them on the walk and back to the farm with us!
Natura Alpaca Care
Our natural alpaca care efforts continue. Despite not being able to offer the alpacas fresh willow at this time of year, they are still nibbling on the bare branches, offering them interesting forage and nutritional support.
A month or so ago we also began experimenting with offering them small doses of apple cider vinegar in their water. Across agriculture apple cider vinegar is used for a multitude of health boosting reasons for a variety of animals. It hasn't impacted their drinking habits which is good news and the herd are mostly all in good health so hopefully this practice is supporting their guts, immunity and capacity to repel flies (when the time comes). Time will tell.
We're hoping to trial a new approach to eye care and mite prevention in the coming months too, so we'll keep you posted when we do!
CameliDynamics
We're continuing our handling and training sessions with the herd each week and having some incredibly positive experiences. Some of the herd members are now routinely standing calm and still and accepting touch on their faces, heads and jaws. Annie in particular, who we've done the most amount of work with so far, now seems to actively seek out being caught for her weekly massage (TTouch techniques)!
Adopt and Alpaca
Our adopt an alpaca offering proved to be a popular gift over the Christmas period. So a big thank you to everyone who is now a proud adopter of a member of our herd! We really appreciate the support and they appreciate the love.
New Offerings
We've been having a rejig of the way we do things and what we'd like to offer and we're very excited to announce some new offerings for 2025.
Private Alpaca Trekking
An exclusive opportunity to meet our walking boys, get to know them a little and choose who you'd like to take out on a personally guided trek with two options for routes including a longer off-farm option through the woods and village.
Book here
Monthly Well-Being Alpaca Walks
Our Well-Being walks combine a nice long walk around our land, some time by the fire and an opportunity to soak up that famous Camelid Calm feeling.
This month's 'Winter Well-Being walk' is on Sat 11th Jan at 2pm.
Book here
Being with the Alpacas
The intention of these sessions is to offer time and space to practice the art of presence and simply being amidst the alpacas in their comfortable home environment. An opportunity to practice non-doing as we soak up some of that famous Camelid Calm.
 
Upcoming Events
We've got a few events coming up this month that we wanted to let you know about.
Men’s Meet Up
Taking place on the 3rd Sunday of each month starting on 19th January between 10am and 12 midday.
The session will be hosted by Lee from @naturenurturebushcraft and will involve spending time in the ancient woodland, connecting with nature, enjoying the fire and engaging in some occasional bushcraft.
Women’s Meet Up
Taking place on the 2nd Saturday of each month starting on 11th January between 10am and 12 midday.
Each session will be hosted by a rotation of different facilitators. This month's session will include time around the fire drinking tea, nature connection and a 'Being with the Alpacas' mindfulness session with the alpacas facilitated by @carlychandlermorris.
Winter Well-Being Walk
Our wellbeing walk will take place on Saturday 11th January at 2pm this month and combines a nice long walk around our land, some time by the fire and an opportunity to soak up that famous Camelid Calm.
We will go for a meander around the farm through our newly planted woodland admiring the views of open countryside. There'll be an invitation to make it a mindful technology free walk, really taking notice of the animals and our surroundings (of course we can still grab a few photos for your memories if you'd like to!).
We hope to see you on the farm soon!
Team Hideaway Wood x
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