The Retreat Animal Rescue Farm Sanctuary and Cafe

The Retreat Animal Rescue Farm Sanctuary and Cafe Home to around 1200 rescued animals, including farmed, domestic and wildlife, and with a vegan café
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Here is a 3 minute video that explains what we do at The Retreat Animal Rescue Farm Sanctuary and Cafe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3c0szZ7VYI

Good morning, We have been inundated with messages asking how baby girl Rosa is doing. So here she is on this glorious m...
18/11/2024

Good morning,

We have been inundated with messages asking how baby girl Rosa is doing. So here she is on this glorious morning sending you all her love and thanks for checking in.
Cows suffer terribly when separated from their family herd and grieve their losses like you and I.
In a world where you can be anything, be kind
❤️🙏🏻 🌱 🐄

Just look at these happy happy faces. This is Foxy group reminding everyone that next Sunday is our last day of the seas...
16/11/2024

Just look at these happy happy faces. This is Foxy group reminding everyone that next Sunday is our last day of the season 2024. Come do your Black Friday shopping a week early to avoid the rush. We have lots of black cats, dogs, pigs, sheep and cows to support 😂 ❤️

15/11/2024
14/11/2024

If you love animals, please urge the RSPCA to stop welfarewashing animal cruelty through their Assured scheme and promote a move away from farming and killing animals. Email: [email protected]

Some great gifts 🎁 available at the retreat. Including 2025 calendars. A gift shop full of kind presents including Chris...
14/11/2024

Some great gifts 🎁 available at the retreat. Including 2025 calendars. A gift shop full of kind presents including Christmas cards, retreat merchandise and more.
Craft shop, thrift and food and wine store too. Vouchers also available to support our residents.
🍷 🍫 🍾 🧁 🍭 🧼 🧴 🎁 🫕 🍲 🥯 🫘 🥣

🎄 🎅 🤶🏽

Good evening everyone, we hope you're having a nice week so far. Who knows whose tongue this is?! Don't forget we close ...
12/11/2024

Good evening everyone, we hope you're having a nice week so far. Who knows whose tongue this is?!
Don't forget we close for the winter on Sunday 24th November so make sure you get over to visit soon! (Thursday to Sunday 12-4pm)

We are in need of some wishlist items if any of our kind supporters are able to get something, and/or share this post to help us reach more people 🙏

Items we really need:
🐄 Salt licks - important for maintaining the electrolyte balance in animals
🐷 Antiseptic cream - mainly used on our pigs with surface wounds and on their dry scabby skin they don't manage to moisturise themselves with mud!
🐑 Jam and peanut butter - for making sandwiches to hide medicine in!
🛠️ Wood screws, cable ties and hose connectors - invaluable for all manner of fixes that need doing on a daily basis
🐐 Turmeric and Dodson and Horrell mobility supplement - to support the joint health of our older and more delicate animals
🐴 Nettex footmaster spray - to help maintain the hoof health of some of our pigs and horses
🐖 Aloe vera cream - to soothe dry skin on pigs
🐏 Foot trimming shears - we get through many of these caring for the feet of our goats and sheep!
🐮 Round bale nets - helps to reduce the waste from our messy cows and horses and save us money buying fewer bales of hay for them
🕊️ Latex gloves - for use in our small animal hospital, to protect staff and the animals

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

Sometimes Amazon will say it can't deliver an item to a wishlist address - this isn't something we can control or know when we add an item (it's very annoying!). But if you add the item to your basket you can then input the address manually and it will send it to us with no problems: Retreat List, The Retreat Animal Rescue, Brickyard farm, Cripple Hill, High Halden, Ashford, Kent, TN26 3LJ

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏

Wonderful boy Wolfie needs his forever home. Neutered male only ten months old. Would make a wonderful family dog.  Good...
12/11/2024

Wonderful boy Wolfie needs his forever home. Neutered male only ten months old. Would make a wonderful family dog. Good on and off his lead
🐾❤️🙏🏻🐕

Two beautiful girls living with us and now ready for their forever homes. 🐾🐾🐾❤️❤️❤️🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Penny ( liver pointer ) adult f...
10/11/2024

Two beautiful girls living with us and now ready for their forever homes. 🐾🐾🐾❤️❤️❤️🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Penny ( liver pointer ) adult female, spayed and very kind. Easy on a lead, good family dog.
Binky ( cream cross ) 3 years old an absolute clown. Will make a great family dog 🐕
Please send a private message if you would like to meet either of them.
❤️🐾🐕

Massive thanks to Pumpkin Moon for allowing us to gather so many pumpkins after Halloween - the pigs in particular have ...
10/11/2024

Massive thanks to Pumpkin Moon for allowing us to gather so many pumpkins after Halloween - the pigs in particular have absolutely loved them, but so have the chickens, turkeys, cows, horses, sheep and goats!
Thank you to everyone who went to collect them for us too - it's much appreciated by all of the team and animals!

Just a happy 😊 Sunday morning post of Maribel and friends having a slow morning ❤️❤️❤️🥰🤫
10/11/2024

Just a happy 😊 Sunday morning post of Maribel and friends having a slow morning
❤️❤️❤️🥰🤫

💙 Princess 💙It is with the heaviest and most broken of hearts that we must let you know our precious Princess fell aslee...
07/11/2024

💙 Princess 💙

It is with the heaviest and most broken of hearts that we must let you know our precious Princess fell asleep for the last time at 12.20pm on Monday 4th November.

Princess was the most incredible soul, with the most loving and caring nature. We don't think there's anyone who met her who didn't immediately fall in love with her. She's famous for her cuddles, her weakness for a good firm back scratch, rubbing her head against anyone who stood still long enough, and her gentle "purr" of contentment.

She came to us around 12 years ago, when she was just 3 years old. Having been born on a dairy farm, her fate was to be repeatedly bred, her babies taken away, and her milk collected every day for humans to enjoy. However, she was soon found to be infertile, and therefore useless to the farmer - if she couldn't have calves, she couldn't then produce milk, because cows, just like humans, only make milk when they have a baby. Thankfully she was then brought to The Retreat and spent the rest of her life knowing nothing but love.

Having never had calves who were then taken away from her, Princess retained her strong maternal instincts, as we were to find out a few years after her arrival. Princess became best friends with Fiona (yes, cows have best friends!) who gave birth to Myrna shortly after coming to the sanctuary. Fiona had had so many babies taken away that she couldn't bond with her daughter, so Princess stepped in to provide the nurturing and care, until Fiona was able to heal from her emotional traumas.

Over the following years, Princess became an amazing auntie to Sylvia and then Harrison, and she maintained a close bond with these three calves she'd helped to raise, even when they moved off to join the main herd. She then took on our cheeky trio of Abbie, Panda, and Evie, but she was quite relieved when they graduated to the grown up paddock - three boisterous teenagers was a lot to handle for a more mature lady!

Most recently, she became adopted mummy to little Rosa. As soon as they were introduced, Rosa ran over to try and suckle from Princess. Most adults would tell an unrelated calf off for doing this, especially when they aren't even producing milk, but Princess understood that Rosa needed that comfort. They spent the next few months absolutely inseparable and dearly devoted to each other. Rosa is grieving hard for the loss of her mum, as are the rest of their little herd, the Retreat team, and our supporters.

On Monday morning Princess was found unable to stand. Despite the best efforts of the team and our vets, it was clear there would be no improvement and we had to make the incredibly difficult decision to say goodbye to our gorgeous girl. She passed very quickly and peacefully, with her head cradled by members of the team who had loved and cared for her for many years, while she was kissed and told how adored she was.

We know how devastated so many of you will be to read this news, and we share in your sadness. But we take comfort in knowing her life was full of so much love and kindness, and that she's had an exceptional impact on the lives of so many people - human and bovine alike.

Run free beautiful girl. Until we meet again 🌈

Boris would like to thank Heidi Wenn’s mum for buying him and his furry friends some swanky new bowls 😻 he’d prefer it i...
03/11/2024

Boris would like to thank Heidi Wenn’s mum for buying him and his furry friends some swanky new bowls 😻 he’d prefer it if his human servant filled them with something to eat first though…..

Thank you, our fur babies are very grateful!

Beautiful Christmas 🎄 gifts 🎁 and cards to support our wonderful residents 2025 calendar, Christmas cards and beautifull...
02/11/2024

Beautiful Christmas 🎄 gifts 🎁 and cards to support our wonderful residents
2025 calendar, Christmas cards and beautifully presented book set ( either of Billy’s books gift wrapped and a certificate for a bushel of vegetables for your favourite retreat resident
🥦 🥕 🥗 🐮 🐷 🐑 🐐 🦃 🐓 🐈 🐶 🐴 🐦 🐭
🎄 🎅 🤶🏽 💝 🎁

Address

Brickyard Farm, Cripple Hill
Ashford
TN263LJ

Opening Hours

Thursday 12pm - 4pm
Friday 12pm - 4pm
Saturday 12pm - 4pm
Sunday 12pm - 4pm

Telephone

+447514114613

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Rescued animals in need of your support

The Retreat Animal Rescue Farm Sanctuary and Cafe, based in Kent (UK), is entirely voluntary and a not-for-profit animal rescue organisation aimed at rescuing and educating. All funds raised go to the welfare of the animals. Here is a 3 minute video that explains what we do and why we do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3c0szZ7VYI