Frank’s Freedom Field

09/12/2024

At this time of year our local farm shops really need your support. I visit Gelston lamb every month for their pop ups, Phil is addicted to the pork and red onion pork pies, for me the lamb bacon is my new addiction 😋

Lots of other stalls as well as the meat, some lovely baked goods, fresh fruit and veg plus jams, chutneys not to mention local cheeses!! So if you haven’t been before you are definitely missing out.

07/12/2024

06/12/2024

I am sure most of you have seen the weather warnings for this weekend. There is a pretty sizeable storm headed our way on Saturday afternoon ☹️ we have taken the decision to keep the field open as the field is normally quite sheltered from the worst of the wind. However we appreciate that driving may be dangerous / challenging and we don’t want anyone to put themselves in danger getting to the field, therefore we are happy to cancel any bookings for either Saturday or Sunday at short notice. Unfortunately all remaining weekends this year are pretty much fully booked so rescheduling will be an issue so we can refund the booking or offer a voucher to use for future bookings if preferred.

To cancel / reschedule bookings with over 12 hours notice please use the link on your booking confirmation email. For later cancellations please WhatsApp / text me on 07815 502201 or message this page.

Keep safe everyone!

24/11/2024

What a crazy week of weather we have had!! Started the week with thick snow and freezing cold but ending it with gales, rain but warm.. I can’t keep up!

Just to let everyone know the field is doing really well despite nature throwing everything at it 😊 The ground is firm and there is no standing water or mud other than a few small areas where I have removed some mole hills (more like mole mountains to be fair!) So dogs should stay nice and clean but obviously the grass is wet and the flood bank will be slippery so wear appropriate footwear 🥾🥾

We are now fully booked for next week. Any late availability due to cancellations will be available on a day by day basis via our WhatsApp late availability chat.

Book early if you want to secure a slot - the weather seems to be getting better next week so fingers crossed!

For lots of info and to book just visit our website 🐾🐾

Secure field

20/11/2024

I just wanted to share some beautiful photos sent to me this morning of the field at sunrise today 🥰

Share your photos of your dogs enjoying their snowy winter walks!

We only half hour available tomorrow and then fully booked until Monday 25th! With the shortened opening hours in the winter months you really have to book early if you want to secure your slot 🐾🐾

13/11/2024

For those that use secure dog fields often you will know that one of the downsides to having a space for dogs use is the inevitable stray poos 💩

At Frank’s we consider ourselves very blessed as our customers are amazing at picking up all that they find and this means that the field is usually very clean most of the time, but there will always be a few strays that get missed.

As a bit of fun and as a way of rewarding you all for being so diligent and picking up what you find we are launching a Points For Poo scheme 😊

The picture explains how it works, but feel free to contact me if you have any immediate questions!

So eyes down and get snapping before bagging your poo!! 💩📸🐾

03/11/2024

I love the colours of the trees in autumn 🥰

Now that the nights are drawing in our opening hours are reduced as we only open during daylight. This means that slots are taken very quickly, so please consider booking as far in advance as you can or you may miss out!

For more info on the field including the link to the booking calendar visit out website:

https://frankfreedomfield.com

26/10/2024

It won’t come as a surprise for most of you that know me that I love sled dogs 😊 I have just seen a post from a small business in wales that run various sled dog experiences, the business desperately needs some support. Being a very small business as well I know only too well the difficulties of trying to stay afloat in these challenging economic times, it’s almost impossible to charge the amount you need to as most people have less and less disposable income.

The one thing we can all do to help businesses like this is share their social media posts, it costs nothing but could mean just one person seeing the post and booking which could make the difference between being profitable that month or not for the business. Simply liking their page helps as well, as facebook shares posts of pages that have more likes so a simple follow or like of their page will give them more exposure and more exposure means potentially more bookings!

So check out the site and consider

11/10/2024

Let’s talk about floods!
Most of our followers and customers will know that we were forced to close the field for over 8 months from late October last year to June due to flooding.
I have had a few people contact me to check that the recent heavy rainfall hasn’t affected the field. It sounds weird but our field actually handles heavy rain really well, having sandy soil means it is rare for the field to get muddy or water logged from heavy rain. The flooding we experienced last year/early this year was out of the ordinary and not caused by heavy rainfall on the field.

I will try to summarise the reasons the field flooded so badly last year. There is a large d**e that runs alongside our field that takes water from local fields, the d**e then empties into the river fleet to the north of the village, the fleet then empties into the Trent. When the Trent water levels get to a certain height sluice gates, that are located at the point where the fleet empties into the Trent, close and the water backs up along the d**e. There are a number of fields in the village that then flood as the water has nowhere else to go. Normally that means our field will get flooded. There is a culvert on the other side of our field which takes the flood water away from the village, under Trent lane and out to the fishing lakes so under normal circumstances the field will flood and stay under water for a few days to a week but as soon as the Trent levels have dropped enough and the sluice gate reopens the field drains.

Last year there was a blockage of some sort in the d**e somewhere between Scarle and our field. After the heavy rain of storm Babet in October the d**e filled up and the water pressure eventually broke through the blockage causing a large amount of water to flow down the d**e and empty into our field. The biggest issue was the water contained a lot of thick sludgy mud / rotten vegetation which formed almost a seal over the ground so the water couldn’t drain away. We then had lots of storms causing the Trent to rise to record levels (eventually breaking its banks) and subsequently the sluice gates were closed for much longer than normal so water simply couldn’t get out of our field.

It was definitely not a normal flooding event and not something we expect to see a repeat of. Typically we would expect a few days, maybe even a couple of weeks in the wetter weather when we will need to close due to flooding but not for a sustained period of several months. If there is standing water in the field we will remain open, but give customers the opportunity to cancel if their dogs don’t like water as long as the water levels are not dangerous and we are confident that the water is not contaminated in any way.

So to summarise, our field is currently dry and mud free and we hope to remain open throughout this winter but we can’t guarantee anything so please take that into account when making bookings over the autumn and winter months. Keep everything crossed for a dry winter! ☀️🐾🐾

14/09/2024

I don't often do business recommendations on here but I just wanted to do a big shout out to TFM Country Store - Whisby for giving us some amazing support and advice today.

One of our dogs is very unwell at the moment, she has been diagnosed with kidney failure and therefore needs to be moved on to a low phosphorus diet. We do not want to feed her the tinned prescription foods for many reasons and researching the best foods for kidney failure on the internet has been confusing with lots of contradictory information. I knew that TFM have trained canine nutritionists working for them so we went to see them today for advice.

Heidi and Georgia spent ages with us helping us understand the best foods for our girl, and more importantly what foods to avoid. There was zero pressure to buy anything from them, they just gave us their unbiased educated opinion.

It is worth a trip to TFM to see the very wide range of items they sell plus so much more! The best part is they are an independent family owned shop (not many of those left and they need our support!) so you get truly independent advice and the prices are great!

So huge thanks to Georgia and Heidi for taking the time to help us.

30/08/2024

We know when it comes to secure fields in the area you have a choice and we thank all of our customers old and new for choosing Frank's.

A quick reminder what makes Frank's so special:

✅ Secure:6' fencing with narrow gaps, suitable for the smallest dogs to the biggest.
✅ Large play area:
Lots of room to run and play - the site is approx 3 acres
✅ Exclusive use hire:
All bookings are for your exclusive use - you will not be sharing the field with any other dogs (unless you invite a friend!)
✅ No other dog fields on site - you will not be sharing a fence line with others, the whole site is yours
✅ In field parking:
Drive in, close and chain the main gate and you are in a secured area and can let your dogs out without having to walk on lead to the field.
✅ Easy keypad entry lock. No fiddly padlocks to deal with.
✅ Poo bags and bins for dog waste. No need to take your dog waste home with you, and lots of bags around the field in case you need some. Poo bins are emptied daily.
✅ Water for your dogs.
✅ Value for money:
The price you see is for you and your dogs whether you have one or 10. You can even bring a friend and their dogs (two cars maximum)
✅ Enrichment:
The field has a mixture of cut grass and large wilder areas, this gives your dog a lot of extra enrichment and provides lots of sniffing and exploring opportunities. We have large logs for climbing over and through plus trees for shade and a tall flood bank for running up and down.
✅ Comfort:
There are some chairs both solid garden ones as well as folding camping ones for you to use if wanted.

We now have over 80 5 star reviews on google, so clearly we are getting it right! If you don't believe us maybe it's time you tried it for yourself 😊

Availability this weekend (31st Aug/1st sept)
Saturday 31st - 1pm - 3pm
Sunday - fully booked

For more info and to book or check our live availability visit our website https://frankfreedomfield.com

29/08/2024

Does anyone recognise the dog below? Please share and help get it reunited 😊

Do you recognise this dog? Found today in the Girton area.

If you have any information which could help us find the owner of this lost dog, please contact us on 01636 650000.

23/08/2024

The field has had a trim and is looking beautiful 😊 We have very limited availability over the bank holiday weekend:
Saturday 24th: 1pm - 2pm
Sunday 25th: FULLY BOOKED
Monday 26th: 3pm - 4pm

If you want to nab one of the hours left head to our live booking site 👇

https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22278779

18/08/2024

Some Sunday - just for fun!!

Show me you have dogs - without showing me your dogs 😃

I'll go first (some are probably more sled dog related!)

Over to you..

15/08/2024

I know I said there wouldn't be a Meet the pack part 11.. but I thought it wouldn't be right for me not to talk about the many many dogs that have passed through our home as fosters. I won't go into the details of all of them because there have been way too many to mention. By reading my meet the pack posts you would be forgiven for thinking we kept every dog that we fostered.. however we did manage to hand many over to their forever homes.

Fostering is not easy but can be so rewarding and I salute all of you out there who do it. We have had to give up fostering for now because life is just too busy and we don't have the time (or space!) to commit to it fully. We have learned so much from our years of fostering, not just learned about dogs and dog behaviour but also alot about ourselves and human nature. I have seen the worst in humans but also the best and have cried tears of frustration and anger hearing some of the experiences some dogs have endured as well as tears of joy when a dog we have come to love has found the perfect forever home.

Some notable fosters we have had are:

Phoenix, who was locked in a conservatory for many years because the owner had a baby and didn't want the mess from a dog. His claws had got so long they curled under his paws and made walking difficult and he had rubbed the hair off his nose from stress. Despite being treated like that he still loved humans and went on to be an amazing pet for his new family. Sadly he has now passed over rainbow bridge but his last few years on earth were very good ones with a loving family and a great life.

Jessie: She is our Milly's pup. She was the reason we first met Milly as her owner was giving two of her pups to the rescue and Phil transported them to their foster homes. Jessie was a literal ball of energy! She was on the go 24/7 and everything was done at 100mph 🤣 She adored water - I am sure she was part fish!! She would regularly empty the dog water bowl and lie in the puddle. We took her to a river for a paddle and she was like a kid in a candy shop, she would have happily have stayed there all day.

Ringo: I still find it hard to talk about Ringo, he was probably the saddest case we dealt with. He had been kept outside in kennels for most of his life because the owner had got a parrot.. keeping huskies / dogs in kennels isn't usually a bad thing, but they need a lot of human interaction to break up their kennel time. Just leaving them there and taking them out for an hours walk a day is not the way to do it. Anyway when we got him he was mentally shut down. He clearly learned to deal with life by retreating into himself. We really struggled to get him to relax and trust, and sadly we didn't make too much progress with him. Finding him a new home was a challenge while he remained in that mental state and with our large pack we just couldn't get him to a place where he could interact with the world. Another foster took him and he really improved in a quieter home. Eventually a new forever home where he was the only dog was found for him. I cried buckets of happy tears when I was sent a video of him playing fetch in the garden of his new home - he was a new dog! Suddenly alive and living his best life.

Lucky: she arrived with us with trichiasis (eyelashes growing inwards) in both of her eyes, she was virtually blind as a result and in a lot of discomfort. Our vet operated on her within a few days and a few weeks later after she healed we saw the pure beauty she was! Finally she could be the dog she was born to be.

So my final meet the pack update is a video montage of some of the amazing dogs that have passed through our home over the years, they each took a piece of my heart and made me a better human in one way or the other 😍