Barkby and Beeby W.I.
In place of our usual village hall meeting, a group of us went off to visit the Brooklea Alpaca Farm at Wymeswold on a lovely warm, sunny evening.
This was a follow up visit after Carolyn Birch’s talk last month. We set off from Barkby village hall at 6.30pm and apart from a wrong turn by our car, probably due to my lack of map reading skills, managed to find the farm and started our walk on the wild side with the alpacas (actually they were quite tame although a little nervous if approached!). Mike Birch took us into the field and emptied food into their troughs letting those who wanted to, have a go at feeding them. While we were doing this he told us a bit more about the farm and answered our questions. At first they were rather nervous but eventually a few brave ones came to us and ate from our hands, some even allowed us to stroke them.
We then went over to the farm house where Carolyn had laid out delicious cakes and scones with fresh cream and jam and copious amounts of tea and coffee. While we enjoyed this, Mike demonstrated how they used the spinning wheel to spin the fleece into yarn and a couple of the ladies tried their hand at this, with varying results.
Mike also showed us a jacket that he had made from the wool which was very heavy and very warm to wear.
This was a lovely evening enjoyed by all, especially as it was rounded off in a peaceful garden with lovely cakes and tea.