Yew Tree Alpacas Experience
The Listing’s Sharon and Cath were invited along to review the Yew Tree Alpaca’s Extended Countryside Walk – and what a wonderful experience it was!
Before the walk, we were sent a really helpful guide, covering the timings of the day, what we’d be doing, what to wear and bring with us, and directions to Yew Tree Alpacas, which is based just 15 minutes from Royston, in Anstey. To reach it, drive via Barkway (we’d recommend using Google Maps or similar, to easily locate it).
The experience itself lasted over 3 hours, with the walking section around 1 hour, through the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside, around Wyddial.
The day started with a talk: an introduction to alpacas and a background to Yew Tree Alpacas. We discovered that Yew Tree started with just four alpacas, and now has a herd of 40 adults: 19 boys and 21 girls. It is the boys that go out on the walks.
Alpacas are part of the Camelid family and originate from Peru, however they settle well in the UK where they are bred for their fleece or kept as pets, they are very good grasscutters!
The alpacas are sheared once a year in May. Yew Tree uses all the fleece in their own alpaca yarns, hypoallergenic alpaca pillows or as nesting material to hang out in the garden.
These are sold online and in their alpaca shop and yarn barn at Yew Tree Alpacas in Anstey (open by appointment April-Sept and during the walks). They also sell a lovely range of alpaca gifts and accessories – a wide range of alpaca socks, and hats, gloves and scarves hand knitted by local knitters in Buntingford and surrounding villages.
After the very informative talk, we headed by minibus (provided by Richmonds Coaches, another fantastic example of the local economy at work) to the walk location and to meet our alpacas!
We were given a training & safety briefing on how to hold and lead an alpaca, and after a short practice, we headed out on the local bridleways. We walked the gorgeous Elgar, who had a very calm temperament and was a joy to walk with! The walk itself was glorious – the views across the fields were stunning, proper English rolling countryside, a little muddy in places but we’d been advised to wear walking boots or wellies, and we were blessed with glorious sunshine.
The walk lasted for an hour, plenty of time to chat to our alpaca, stroke him and enjoy his company, as he trotted along beside us. On returning back to the field, we had plenty of time to take more pictures (and selfies) and feed Elgar carrots, before returning in the minibus.
A delicious cream tea awaited us, and afterwards we could shop for alpaca products and gifts as mementoes of our day.
Yew Tree Alpacas offer a variety of walks and experiences, from shorter walks to the longer walk we took. The age limit for walking the alpacas is 10 years, and children aged 10-15 years must walk with an adult on the longer walks. There are also Alpaca Adventures available for children aged 6 and over, plus a variety of courses and crafting workshops.
Full details of all walks and experiences are available on the very informative website.
To find out more about the various Alapca Walks and Experiences visit – https://bit.ly/AlpacaWalking2024
Yew Tree Alpacas, Yew Tree Cottage, Anstey, Buntingford, Herts SG9 0DA
Phone: 01763 848257
Email: info@yewtreealpacas.co.uk
Facebook: YewTreeAlpacas
Instagram: yew_tree_alpacas
www.yewtreealpacas.co.uk
