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BBC Farmwatch: Move from law to alpacas is a real change of pace

A lawyer turned farmer has diversified her alpaca farm to be able to stay afloat as "people aren't spending money like they were". Amy Saunders has been running Hideaway Farm in Dodford, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, for the last five years, but for the last year she has been working on turning it into a serious career rather than it being just a 23-acre site has 32 alpacas, each with its own name and personality. Speaking ahead of Farmwatch, Ms Saunders said that "women are the core of the team", and she loved the "uniqueness" of her mainly female-run farm. Despite not having had any farming experience, the single mother of three said she had been ready to move on from her corporate lifestyle and live a simpler life, closer to had suffered repeated burnout and felt her mental health was affected by being in an office all on building the farm had improved her happiness, she said. Ms Saunders said she had faced "so many different challenges" in the last five years, particularly with the changes in the alpaca industry. These have included the implications of Brexit, the surge in import prices and an increased focus on the quality and traceability of alpaca wool.A number of large alpaca breeders had closed down, meaning there were lots of high-quality alpacas for sale, and that put added pressure on small farms such as Hideaway. The farm offers a range of family-friendly glamping and camping experiences, silent discos and community volunteer days are among the things on offer, as well as alpaca-involved yoga, meditation and woodland farm also offers wellbeing programmes for both men and women. Ms Saunders has still not been able to pay herself regularly, but she insists she is driven by the joy and positive impact it has on the project, which is off-grid and has composting toilets, has had more than 8,000 trees planted over four years and does not use any pesticides on the farm or its four acres of ancient woodland. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.