The Little French Donkey Farm is situated in a small, rural village in the Charente, South West France. It is a region famous for Limousin cattle, vineyards, chestnut woods and the wonderful Baudet de Poitou donkey. Not so many years ago, donkeys and mules played an important role in the day to day lives of country people, pulling carts and machinery, carrying produce to market and taking children to school. It is for these reasons that the donkey is regarded with such affection and maintains an important role in the heritage of the area.

Children’s Books Update

At last all four books are now available worldwide on Amazon in English and French.  If you wish to buy these Kindle versions you will need to log onto the Amazon page for the country where your account is registered.

Dés que maintenant, les quatre livres sont disponibles dans le monde entier sur  Amazon en anglais et en français. Si vous souhaitez acheter ces versions du Kindle vous devrez vous connecter sur la page Amazon pour le pays ou votre compte est enregistré.

I have included links from the images below to each book, English versions on amazon.co.uk and French versions on amazon.fr.  But remember you can buy all versions from any Amazon website.

J’ai inclus des liens sur les images ci-dessous à chaque livre, des versions anglaises sur amazon.co.uk et les versions françaises sur amazon.fr   Mais n’oubliez pas que vous pouvez acheter toutes les versions de n’importe quel site Amazon.

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Célestin setting out for a walk on Mari

Mari

Célestin trying out the beach-donkey saddle I was lucky enough to come across. He said it was very comfortable and liked the handle to hold onto.

Bertie gets his wormer hidden in a treacley mash

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Bertie was always difficult to worm in the past and was a dab hand at holding the paste in his mouth for ages,then spitting it out the minute my back was turned. Then I discovered  Eqvimax tablets . They say you can give them by hand but Bertie took one smell and turned away in disgust, so now I grind the tablets to a powder and add pony cubes ,treacle and a bit of hot water. Works a treat !

 

 

Skegness Beach Donkey Saddle and Bridle

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Mari looking gorgous in her beach donkey outfit. Very chuffed to have found the saddle and bridle here in France. There is also a collar with bells on but that will take time for her to get used to. She’s certainly not keen at the moment! Maybe I’ll introduce one bell at a time.

 

The first sign of Spring

Here in the Charente, we wait eagerly each year for the crane to fly over and then we know that spring is truly on its way. We are very fortunate to be on the flight path and the noise they make is wonderful. This passage of birds can last for several days  amounting to thousands of birds.

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Frida takes up driving

Frida’s been in the wars again and has to take things easy and not walk too much. Consequently when we go for walks, she travels in style and sits there like Helen of Troy!

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“Boy’s” training begins.

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A nice sunny day here today. Perfect for getting Boy used to wearing a saddle and bridle. I use a soft rubber bit for the first six months and then gradually change over to a metal one. He was a really good boy today and led nicely around the paddock several times. He had a handful of pony cubes as a reward. He seems to enjoy his training sessions.

The twice-daily chore

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Muck is picked up twice daily. This prevents the land from becoming soured. The muck is kept in a heap for two years and then spread back onto the land. On a fairly small acreage we find this extremely beneficial for the animals and the land.

 

“Oh Boy” the third book in the Precious series

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This book is now available as an ebook from amazon uk.

The Miracle of Twins

Twin baudets
Twin Baudets de Poitou donkeys were born on the 21st January in a village in our region of the Charente. They have been called “Diamant” and “Destinee”. This event has caused great excitement because as far anybody knows it is the only recorded twin birth by this breed of donkey. The Baudet de Poitou almost disappeared completely until a handful of dedicated breeders succeeded in re-establishing  the race. In 2011, in France, around 670 Baudets were counted, a real success story.