At Charnwood Forest Alpacas, we are passionate about showing, breeding and educating guests from all over the country about alpacas and many of the other animals on our farm. Today, we are one of the UK’s largest alpaca farms open to the public, with visitors travelling from across the country to meet our alpacas, horses, donkeys, sheep, pigs, chickens, cats and many more!
Our Story
The Charnwood Forest Alpacas story begins over 10 years ago, when owner Chris decided he had spent enough time climbing the corporate ladder after several years as a Managing Director, and was ready for a change. Starting out with five female alpacas, Chris began the journey of becoming a successful alpaca owner, learning everything there is to know about caring for, showing, breeding and raising awareness about these lovely animals. Starting from scratch, he was completely self-taught and had to undergo a very steep learning curve to find his footing at the beginning! Fortunately, the alpaca community in the UK welcomed him with open arms as he worked hard to become an alpaca pro...
Not long after Chris embarked on his big alpaca adventure, the owners of Morden Hall Alpacas, a 55-strong herd on a charming 30-acre farm, were looking to retire. Chris recognised this as a fantastic opportunity to take everything he had learned so far and got in touch. Morden Hall were impressed by his dedication and passion for the breed, and were delighted to pass the torch to him! In the first few years, Charnwood Forest only showing and breeding alpacas, but with a herd that was growing all the time, Chris decided one challenge wasn’t quite enough, and so in 2011, we opened our doors to the general public too!
We’re super proud to say we were one of the first farms in the UK to run alpaca walk experiences, and we’re so glad we did. Sharing our passion for alpacas, as well as the other animals on our farm, is something that we really do love doing, and seeing the smiles on the faces of our guests really does make it worthwhile for Chris and the team.
In 2016, we started our next big adventure - our move to Scamhazel Farm. With the herd growing all the time and the number of guests on the farm rising, we took the plunge and moved the alpaca herd and a few more animal friends to our new home on the Derbyshire/Leicestershire border. With 110-acres of space in the heart of the beautiful English countryside, we’ve been here ever since, while our herd grows and we’ve welcomed lots of new animal friends! At the most recent count, we have more than 300 animals living on the farm.
We also opened the Chilli Bean Cafe and Bar a little while after our move, to give our guests and the local community a spot to sit down and relax with some delicious (and occasionally alpaca-themed!) food and drink. Today the Chilli Bean is a cosy spot for our guests to sit down and relax with hot and cold food and beverages as well as our scrumptious afternoon teas, which can also be booked as part of an alpaca walk experience. You wouldn’t know it today, but when we first moved into the farm, the building the Chilli Bean Cafe lives in now was actually an old, derelict milking shed! Through some love, care and a whole lot of hard work, we’ve built a lovely space for our visitors.
Our Experiences
Part of Chris’ wishlist was to give back to the community and public at large in some way, this actually spawned the alpaca walks concept. So today, we are passionate about continuing to share the wonderful personalities of not just our alpacas, but all of the animals at the farm, and offer experiences with lots of our animals to help share our passion with you. You are also very welcome to take a walk around the trails on our farm at your own pace, meeting the animals and perhaps popping into the Chilli Bean Cafe for a bite to eat or tasty afternoon tea!
We offer a wide range of animal experiences, including:
CALMs Therapy
We also run regular CALMs Therapy sessions on the farm. Cognitive Alpaca Learning Strategies (CALMs) is a programme for children and young adults with autism, ADHD, Asperger's syndrome and other behavioural, social or learning challenges. After seeing how comfortable and relaxed so many people became after spending time with alpacas, Chris became very interested in the potential of CALMs, and its ability to help improve participants' behaviour, attention and self-esteem, even long after they have left the farm.
With a gentle, yet assertive approach, Chris personally develops all of our CALMs sessions, and finds this side of his role very rewarding. During CALMs sessions, young people learn how to take responsibility for an animal and how to feed, train, halter and walk the alpacas, while improving self-awareness and giving them a space to relax with our alpacas. Many of our young people learn to emulate the calmness and behavioural traits of alpacas and animals in general and are able to carry that through to both the classroom and everyday life.
