Meet the Animals
Kentwell Hall is home to an eclectic mix of animals, with many wooly, furry, and feathered friends dotted across the site. Each one of these animals has a unique personality and story to share. In this special edition of our blog, I am going to virtually introduce you to all of our key animals - both big and small.
Meet Comfrey
Comfrey was born at Kentwell Hall on the 28th March 2000, about three weeks after his due date. He is now a whopping 24 years old!
He is a Suffolk Punch Cross. His mother, Violet, was a full-bred Suffolk Punch, and his father was a thoroughbred called Voloski, a great grandson of Nijinsky (Nijinsky was the Triple Crown winner in 1970, and some say the greatest racehorse ever).
Comfrey is the fifth foal born to Violet, who was Kentwell Hall’s original Suffolk Punch mare.
Comfrey is a cheeky chap, who has absolutely no loyalty when it comes to mealtimes. More often than not, he will finish his own food and then attempt to steal the Shetlands’!
Meet Sylvie and Saffron
Sylvie (silver-blue), and Saffron (chestnut) came to Kentwell Hall in December 2018. Both are Miniature Shetland Ponies, with Saffron actually being the daughter of Sylvie.
The Shetland pony is a breed originating, as the name suggests, in the Shetland Isles, Scotland. Miniature Shetlands should be no more than 38 inches tall (standard Shetlands are slightly taller, generally being between 38 and 42 inches). They have heavy coats, short legs and are very intelligent (verging on ‘naughty’)!
Shetland ponies were traditionally used for pulling carts, carrying peat and coal, and ploughing crofts. They are a very strong breed, able to pull their entire body weight - making them proportionally stronger than most horses.
Sylvie and Saffron can often be found hopping through the fields - a sight which never fails to make me chuckle!
Meet Percy
Percy is the resident peacock here at Kentwell Hall. His species originally comes from more tropical countries, such as India. He is extremely greedy, and can often be found loitering around the tearoom, lovingly eyeing up customers’ lunches.
Percy enjoys displaying his beautiful plumage in the Spring to quiet and considerate visitors.
He was gifted to Kentwell Hall by Olivia Boland, the owner of Tostock Animal Parks, in a presentation ceremony on Friday 27th May 2022. He was named Percy in homage to his predecessor, Percy, one of Kentwell’s earlier peacocks who sadly passed away.
Meet our Miracle Lambs
As you may, or may not, have seen in the press last week, on the 10th April 2024 one of our Norfolk Horn ewes gave birth to quintuplet lambs. The father of this extraordinary litter is Stanley, a South Down.
The two rams from this litter have been named Cuca and Little, and the three ewes have been named Twinkle, Wonder, and Diamond. These five names were picked by the grandchildren of the owners, and are based upon the nursery rhyme ‘twinkle, twinkle, little star’.
Meet our Office Lamb
Although it is continually reinforced that we should not get attached to the animals, we can’t help but have our personal favourites here in the office.
Being at Kentwell on a daily basis means that we have had the pleasure of watching all of the lambs grow up. We have even been involved in the bottle feeding of many of Kentwells’ ‘pets’.
Timmy (pictured left) is one of the ‘pets’ we have helped to hand rear over the past few weeks. Given we have taken it in turns to look after him, we jokingly refer to him as the ‘Office Lamb’. It has been lovely watching him flourish, and grow from a tiny little lamb, to a rambunctious, confident one.
Meet our Longhorn Cattle
The herd of Kentwell cows are a breed called English Longhorn Cattle.
They are very distinctive with their long horns (hence the name), and their pretty hides - which vary in red, brown, grey and black streaks. Longhorns always have a white stripe along their back going down to their tail. The colour pattern on each side of their bodies is symmetrical to the other.
Although they may look fierce, our Longhorns are actually extremely docile and good tempered.
All of our Longhorn Cattle have names. We have Zola, Xolo, Xenia, Xednesday, Xanadu, Xever, Xyst and Xanthe. Try saying that five times fast!
As I am writing this blog post, we have just welcomed a new calf (pictured right). I wonder what this one will be called! Please feel free to leave some name suggestions beginning with the letter ‘Y’ in the comments!
Meet our Pigs
We presently have two HUGE, and in the most loving way, quite smelly, pigs here at Kentwell Hall.
According to Kentwell Hall’s owner, Patrick, both of our current sows (female pigs) are crosses from rare breeds. Each of them has a ‘fair element of Tamworth blood’ mixed with other elements.
Both of our sows can often be found ‘oinking’ and rolling around in the mud! They also love to do a bit of sunbathing when the UV rays are up!
And that’s everyone… at least I hope it is! I formally apologise to any of Kentwell Hall’s animals that I have missed off of this list.
If you want to see any of this lovely lot in person, you can book tickets on our website or just click HERE!
