A lockdown day out?! Alpaca my bags!

As most of us across the globe are still in varying forms of "lockdown" due to COVID-19, a lot of us are finding it hard to keep ourselves entertained. Although I know my hilarious title for this post was the most entertaining thing you've seen in months, right?

...right?!

After having a bit of a wobble with my mental health, my mum decided I needed something nice to look forward to. She had heard about a local farm just down the road from us that had some alpacas, and were offering loads of different experiences with them. She kindly booked us in for a walk with the alpacas for the next week. It seemed like an odd thing to do at the time, but I had no idea how lovely and calming alpacas could be.

We arrived at Lower Bush Alpacas bright and early on Wednesday morning. Jon greeted us and ran through some basic alpaca etiquette and health + safety stuff  (y'know, with covid and all that) before taking us along to meet our new furry friends. Everyone was paired up with an alpaca and given a bag of their alpacas favourite treats, before heading off into the woods for a lovely, socially-distanced walk with our new buddies. I was amazed at how nicely they walked alongside us throughout the whole route, which was led by Jon who shared some wonderful info about the alpacas, their vision and goals as a business, and told us a bit about the areas that we walked through.

Mumma and Sir Davos

Sir Davos in all his glory

You really do get the feeling straight away that the alpacas mean the world to this family. They are not just a business for them, you can really see the care and love they have for their animals. Jameela (Jon's wife) is a clinical psychologist and uses her expertise to incorporate the animals into therapy and mindfulness sessions. I can definitely see how this would be beneficial after spending time with them! 

Visiting Lower Bush Alpacas is a must for anyone in Kent. I felt very safe and comfortable there with their COVID-19 measures, as they have plenty of alcohol hand gel and hand washing facilities, and we were encouraged to use these at various points throughout the session. If you're anything like me, I know it can be difficult to get out there and do new things at the moment. This is an activity I had no anxieties about doing whatsoever. And there is something for everyone, including meeting the alpacas in their own environment, walking with them, picnic-ing with them, as well as the wellbeing and mindfulness sessions. 

You can find the Lower Bush Alpacas website here or via their social media pages.

Love, 

Samantha x

Personally a huge fan of the sign in the top right corner of this photo that reads "poo heap".