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Helen. “Tey all live outside which does mean there’s more animal husbandry to do than if you kept them inside but we think it’s the right thing because they absolutely love being outside.” According to the couple, happy goats - and happy


soil - produce the best milk so they can make delicious cheeses. “Once the kids are born,


many goat farms will let them have their colostrum from their mothers and then they’ll take the kids away and feed them milk replacement. We are not doing that. We didn’t last year, we kept them with their mothers until they weaned. Tose goats are really strong and that’s what’s going to make a difference. I don’t want to be buying in artificial milk replacement when the goats are producing milk, it’s madness. It also saves us from having to hand feed loads of kids which is a nightmare! We will have to hand feed some but our lovely neighbours in Swannaton Road all want to help, so we have a rota.” As we were chatting a herd of kids came trotting over to say hello including one smaller than the others.


“Tat’s Princess, she was hand-fed,” said Helen. “She is very, very tame. She was in the house at one point. She’s much younger than the others. We finished our kidding about the end of May, thinking this is great, and then in the middle of July, she popped out!” I asked Helen about their future plans. “We want to


be known for great quality, distinctive goats cheese, and it’s important to keep a really sustainable farm” she said. “We want to produce the best quality we can and make it repeatable. Te other thing that’s quite nice is becoming part of the amazing food scene in Devon.” Te couple have two grown-


up sons who live in London but who they hope may move to Devon at some point. “Tey come down a lot. We’ve got


family nearby as well which is great, mine in Cornwall and Martin’s in Newton Abbot and Yealmpton. We had been looking for a farm for a long time near where we lived on the Wilstshire/Dorset border but when this one came up it had everything we wanted – unspoilt, near family and by the sea, which is great as Martin’s a sailor.”•


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