About Us
The Bassetts Farm Story
In Dec 2004 we moved into Bassetts Farm. We had just under 10 acres of land with two ponds and were unsure what to do with it all.
We had a Horse called Fanta, a Shetland called Mighty, 2 dogs, a golden Labrador called Paddy and a Basset Hound called Hazel and 6 Ducks.
In 2006 we decided to grow our family and brought 100 point of lay Chicken. Within a few weeks of our new Chicken arriving we started to have our first Free Range Eggs.
One day in 2007 we had an unpleasant visit from Mr Fox which sadly destroyed over half of our Chickens. We heard rumours that Alpacas protect Chickens so...
In May 2008 we brought our very first Alpacas!
We had a Horse called Fanta, a Shetland called Mighty, 2 dogs, a golden Labrador called Paddy and a Basset Hound called Hazel and 6 Ducks.
In 2006 we decided to grow our family and brought 100 point of lay Chicken. Within a few weeks of our new Chicken arriving we started to have our first Free Range Eggs.
One day in 2007 we had an unpleasant visit from Mr Fox which sadly destroyed over half of our Chickens. We heard rumours that Alpacas protect Chickens so...
In May 2008 we brought our very first Alpacas!
Our Alpaca Story
In May 2008 we bought three breeding females that were all pregnant. Mercedes, Beauty
and Josie. We were over the moon in July when we walked up to the fields to find our first cria was born. Josie had a baby boy called Joseph. Followed swiftly by Mercedes having a girl, Maggie. However we waited a few weeks for our final arrival from Beauty who seemed to have her legs crossed!
Finally in August we welcomed by our final cria into the Bassetts family. Beauty had a
baby girl called Bambi. When a cria is born they generally are up and walking around on there feet within an hour of being born. Bambi didn’t have the energy for this and she needed some special milk called colostomy. After Bambi had her special milk she was up and walking around within a few hours and beginning to bond with her mum and her new family. This made our family of 6 Alpacas. This was the beginning of our love for Alpacas.
In 2009 we brought another breeding female Alpaca called Whoopie and she already had a young male at foot called Mario. Our Happy family had grown to 8 lovely Alpacas.
In 2010 we decided that we could cope and knew enough about Alpacas to have our females mated. We had to wait 11 months to see if any of our girl’s had been lucky enough to conceive and have any babies this year. Lucky for us three of girls did have babies. Mercedes had a bouncy boy called Monty. Josie had another boy called Jackson and Whoopie had another boy called Winston. When Winston was born he was really poorly and had to go to the Royal Veterinary College in Potters Bar where he was cared for by the staff in this process Whoopie rejected him and he needed bottle feeding four times a day with goats milk!
In 2011 we had a surprise baby. 2011 was a busy year for us. We had a wedding in one of our fields with a marquee. One week after the wedding we were walking the dogs around the fields and we noticed that there was a white fluffy baby wandering around with one of our first born - Bambi. Bambi had had a baby boy and as we had just had a celebration with the wedding the week before we decided to call him bubbles. Bubbles was a healthy baby boy with the most piercing blue eyes. Making our family 12.
In 2012 we mated our herd again and two of our girls were lucky enough to have a crias.
Mercedes had had a baby boy. Mercedes delivered her healthy baby boy smack bam in the middle of tennis season. So we had to call her baby Murray. Bambi had a baby girl called Balmoral. Which made our family 14.
In 2013 we had some sad times we had a very hard winter with lots of snow lost Josie one our original girls. We also lost Balmoral who was only 6 months old.
2014 crept round and Bambi had another baby which we named Biscuit. Biscuit was a
beautiful little girl who was very weak after birth. We camped out for two nights protecting her from the foxes and she became stronger. Unfortunately 3 months after she was born biscuit was taken too soon.
In 2015 our girls and boys were beginning to feel complete. However our Bambi was blessed with another cria. A baby girl this time and she was named buttercup. Our family is now at 13.
Every year we have a shearer come to the farm and shear our Alpacas. When he comes he also cuts their toe nails and their teeth and also gives them their Vitamins.
In 2009 we purchased our first spinning wheel to start the process of getting our fleeces into wool. However we had far too many fleeces to produce our own wool so we drove our fleeces all the way to a mill in Cornwall where they turned them into wool for us.
and Josie. We were over the moon in July when we walked up to the fields to find our first cria was born. Josie had a baby boy called Joseph. Followed swiftly by Mercedes having a girl, Maggie. However we waited a few weeks for our final arrival from Beauty who seemed to have her legs crossed!
Finally in August we welcomed by our final cria into the Bassetts family. Beauty had a
baby girl called Bambi. When a cria is born they generally are up and walking around on there feet within an hour of being born. Bambi didn’t have the energy for this and she needed some special milk called colostomy. After Bambi had her special milk she was up and walking around within a few hours and beginning to bond with her mum and her new family. This made our family of 6 Alpacas. This was the beginning of our love for Alpacas.
In 2009 we brought another breeding female Alpaca called Whoopie and she already had a young male at foot called Mario. Our Happy family had grown to 8 lovely Alpacas.
In 2010 we decided that we could cope and knew enough about Alpacas to have our females mated. We had to wait 11 months to see if any of our girl’s had been lucky enough to conceive and have any babies this year. Lucky for us three of girls did have babies. Mercedes had a bouncy boy called Monty. Josie had another boy called Jackson and Whoopie had another boy called Winston. When Winston was born he was really poorly and had to go to the Royal Veterinary College in Potters Bar where he was cared for by the staff in this process Whoopie rejected him and he needed bottle feeding four times a day with goats milk!
In 2011 we had a surprise baby. 2011 was a busy year for us. We had a wedding in one of our fields with a marquee. One week after the wedding we were walking the dogs around the fields and we noticed that there was a white fluffy baby wandering around with one of our first born - Bambi. Bambi had had a baby boy and as we had just had a celebration with the wedding the week before we decided to call him bubbles. Bubbles was a healthy baby boy with the most piercing blue eyes. Making our family 12.
In 2012 we mated our herd again and two of our girls were lucky enough to have a crias.
Mercedes had had a baby boy. Mercedes delivered her healthy baby boy smack bam in the middle of tennis season. So we had to call her baby Murray. Bambi had a baby girl called Balmoral. Which made our family 14.
In 2013 we had some sad times we had a very hard winter with lots of snow lost Josie one our original girls. We also lost Balmoral who was only 6 months old.
2014 crept round and Bambi had another baby which we named Biscuit. Biscuit was a
beautiful little girl who was very weak after birth. We camped out for two nights protecting her from the foxes and she became stronger. Unfortunately 3 months after she was born biscuit was taken too soon.
In 2015 our girls and boys were beginning to feel complete. However our Bambi was blessed with another cria. A baby girl this time and she was named buttercup. Our family is now at 13.
Every year we have a shearer come to the farm and shear our Alpacas. When he comes he also cuts their toe nails and their teeth and also gives them their Vitamins.
In 2009 we purchased our first spinning wheel to start the process of getting our fleeces into wool. However we had far too many fleeces to produce our own wool so we drove our fleeces all the way to a mill in Cornwall where they turned them into wool for us.
Our Busy Honey Bees
In 2010 we inherited our first bee hive. We knew nothing about beekeeping so we had to learn fast! We visited Ruxley Beekeepers in Sidcup every Saturday to get hands on experience and learn from other beekeepers. We then joined Yalding Beekeepers Assosiation which formed in 2011.
Over time we have builts up our knowledge, experience and equipment and we now have a fair sized Apiary and manage ten hives! In a good year we might produce around 300lbs of honey. We also produce honeycomb and wax candles.
Over time we have builts up our knowledge, experience and equipment and we now have a fair sized Apiary and manage ten hives! In a good year we might produce around 300lbs of honey. We also produce honeycomb and wax candles.
Our Chickens and Ducks
We currently have around 70 Free Range Chickens and 10 Ducks.
