The Retreat Animal Rescue Farm Sanctuary and Cafe

05/09/2026

Dewi, Myrna and Jasmine are taking this weekend to treat themselves to some self care! Locally sourced, organic face masks are just what they need after a long week of wandering the fields and munching the grass that's finally regrowing after the rain!
Check the comments to see Myrna applying her face mask!

03/09/2026

Meet Dolly 🐴

Dolly arrived at The Retreat on Tuesday, and is only 9 years old. She came to us with a different name, but we changed it to Dolly, in honour of Dolly Parton, and to mark her new start in life as she's not had the easiest time, poor girl.

Her story is a little muddled as we've been told slightly different things from a few people who were involved in getting her to us, but her "owner" (we don't like this term as animals aren't objects to be owned, but sometimes it's the easiest term for people to understand) was keeping her at a yard where she was under the care of someone else. Last year she got out to where a stallion was and became pregnant, and she gave birth to a little boy at the beginning of May.

The yard owner gave Dolly's humans a month's notice to move her, and with the help of a friend, found her a placement at The Retreat. Sadly the yard owner decided he wanted to keep her foal. So her little 4 month old baby has been separated from his mum at far too young an age. In fact it's common for foals to suckle at well over a year old, and they shouldn't be weaning before 6 months at the earliest. When we've had mums and babies, they still suckle even at 2+ years old, not because they need the nutrition, but because of their incredibly strong bond.

We believe they were only separated on Tuesday morning when Dolly was loaded into the lorry that brought her to us, as she's still producing milk and was calling out in distress for at least 24 hours, presumably looking for her son 💔

As well as her emotional wounds, beautiful Dolly also seems to have some neurological issues, shaking and being unsteady on her back legs, so we'll be getting the vet out in a few days to give her a thorough assessment once she's had a little bit of time to decompress. She's also incredibly underweight - we don't yet know if this is because of a health condition, from giving everything she had to her foal, or if she just hadn't received what she needed at her previous home. Regardless, we're doing our best to feed her up and get her nice and strong, and get her as healthy as possible.

Welcome, Dolly. We're sorry we weren't able to keep you with your son, but you're safe forever now 💚

(Videos of her in the comments)

02/09/2026

Compassion for every animal 💚

01/09/2026

We would like to say a massive and overdue thank you to Jollyes Maidstone - The Pet People and their customers for their absolutely exceptional support over the past few months!
These pics show approximately 2000 (!!!) meals for our dogs, cats, and wildlife, and saves us a huge amount of money.

When customers shop in Jollyes they're asked if they'd like to buy a tin for The Retreat, and we're so overwhelmed by their generosity. As well as the tins, customers also purchase other items for our animals which are collected by the staff, and Jollyes themselves donate many other things too. What a lovely community of kind people! We must also shout out Chris and Darren who collect the donations, unload it all, and sort it out according to which animal team it's for - it's a big job and does not go unnoticed.

We couldn't possibly do what we do without the support of so many amazing people and businesses, and we appreciate every single donation, no matter how big or small 💚

Thank you Jollyes, their customers, and everyone else who supports our life saving work
🐕🐱🐦‍⬛

30/08/2026

Emma bringing you an important reminder!

29/08/2026

Meet Woody Harrelson the wood pigeon (our wildlife hospital team are naming intakes this week after actors, and he's also a vegan animal rights advocate!)
❗Content warning for the later pictures ❗

Why is our Woody special, when we sadly get dozens brought in each week? Well, he shouldn't still be alive.

One of our volunteers was alerted to him on Friday, after a member of the public found him injured and unable to fly - they believed he may have been hit with a catapult. On investigation, our wildlife team found that he had the very start of fly strike (maggots in the wound) which would have killed him if he'd been left much longer. As his wound was cleaned and the maggots removed, Andrea felt something hard in the wound. Following her instincts, she probed with her forceps and grabbed hold of the hard object and carefully pulled, but was shocked and disgusted at what appeared - a lead pellet.

Someone had tried to kill Woody, but by some miracle he survived and found the right series of people to help him. His wound has been treated and packed, and he's receiving the very best care we can possibly give him, and we've fallen in love with his gentle nature and quiet determination to survive.

Sadly there's an increasing and very worrying trend of people, often kids, shooting birds and other wildlife with catapults and air rifles. Most of these birds are injured but not immediately killed, as the person doing this isn't actually "skilled" in how to kill them instantly, and seem more interested in just causing harm, so these poor creatures suffer a slow and agonising death. Pigeons, and all birds, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, meaning it is illegal to shoot them without a licence. If you see anyone harming birds, please report it to the police with as much information as possible. We cannot allow this despicable behaviour to continue.

28/08/2026

We've got a couple of spaces left for traders. As it's last minute we're offering a 50% discount to anyone who's able to take a place! So if you have a new business and you weren't sure about trading, this is a great opportunity to have a go at very low risk - this makes the stall only £15! And with the festival happening on-site too we're expecting a very high turnout!
Email [email protected] to book in!

Make sure you join us Sunday 30th August for our summer fayre!

We'll have a variety of stalls selling all sorts of great items, and it all helps raise money for our rescued residents.

We still have some spots available for stalls, including a few coveted places in our air conditioned event room! But if you prefer to be outside we have space for many gazebos. If you're interested in trading please email [email protected] with details of what you make/sell.

If any musicians would be happy to perform on the day to help cultivate a lovely atmosphere for all our visitors and stallholders, please also get in touch.

As always, entry and parking are free, and dogs on leads are welcome (but obviously if it's hot it's best to leave them at home)

27/08/2026

We're happy to report that our delicate goats have gone back into their paddocks!

You may remember that we made the decision to bring them in a few weeks ago following goat thefts in the South East. We've managed to improve our security in their areas so we're confident in letting them return to their lovely outside space! We will not be disclosing what the increased security is as we don't want potential thieves to have any insights into how we're protecting our animals!

26/08/2026

Did you know studies have shown pigs to be even more intelligent than dogs? How many of our resident piggies have you met? 🐖❤️

25/08/2026

Cheeky boy Bert is hoping some of our wonderful supporters might be able to help us with getting some items from our wishlist 🙏

The items we're particularly desperate for are
🐐 Jam - used to hide medication in sandwiches!
🐖 Glucosamine powder - to support the joint health of our older pigs
🐑 L lysine powder - to support the immune health of some of our more delicate residents
🐄 Devil's relief - an antiinflammatory and pain reliever for our disabled cow Lara
🐏Turmeric xtra/plus or turmeraid supplements - to help with older ruminants' joints

But anything from the list is hugely appreciated.💚
Thank you for your generous support 🐖🐄🐑🐐🐎🫏🐕🐇🐈‍⬛🐀🐦🐓🐦‍⬛🕊️🦢🦆🪿🦚🦃

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/39US51EL9J7V5?ref_=wl_share

Sometimes Amazon will say it can't deliver a particular item to a registry address - if this happens just input our address at checkout (not with your name on it otherwise we won't open it!) and it will magically be able to send it.
The Retreat Animal Rescue, Brickyard Farm, Cripple Hill, High Halden, Ashford, Kent TN26 3LJ