The stay
Each has its own page: what happens, what it costs, who does it. Every price is on the prices page before you ring, and nothing is added for medication, a bed from home or a phone call to ask how they are.
01
The cowshed was rebuilt in 2015 as twenty-four suites: underfloor heating, a raised orthopaedic bed, a window at dog height, a covered private run, and a door that closes at night. Six are doubles with two beds for dogs from the same home.
£34 a night for one to six nights, £31 for seven to thirteen, £28 from fourteen.
02
Every dog goes out three times a day in the fenced paddocks: with the dogs from their own home, or on their own if they are nervous or elderly, never in a free-for-all with strangers. Ball, sniffing, a paddle in the trough, a sit under the oak. The kennel hands walk, they do not supervise from a chair.
Three walks a day are included in every stay.
03
You bring their usual food and tell us the times; we feed exactly that. Medication is given at no charge, twice a day if needed, and written up. Old, deaf, blind, anxious and post-operative dogs go in the quiet end of the shed with the same kennel hand every day.
Included in every stay.
04
The green van collects and returns dogs within twelve miles of the farm: Llantrisant, Pontyclun, Talbot Green, Miskin, Llanharan, Tonyrefail and the villages between, £22 each way. Day care runs from eight to six for the dogs whose people work, with the same walks and the same paddocks.
Van £22 each way within twelve miles, booked with the stay.
05
A first stay is easier if it is not the first time. Come for a Saturday viewing with the dog, do a trial day, book a short first stay before the fortnight in Portugal, and get a straight report on how they did. Puppies from twelve weeks with their second vaccination.
Viewings free, Saturdays 11 to 1.
06
The farm is open every day of the year, Christmas Day included, with the same walks and the same people. Peak weeks add £6 a night and fill early: the summer holidays by May, Christmas by October, Easter by February. Regulars get first refusal on the dates they had last year.
Peak weeks £6 a night on top of the normal rate; the minimum stay at Christmas is three nights.
The cowshed
The farm has been Helen's family's since the thirties and the kennels since 2008. The long barn on the right of the yard is the old cowshed, rebuilt in 2015 as twenty-four suites with a kitchen at one end and the wash room at the other. The quiet end, the six suites furthest from the door, is for the nervous, the deaf and the old. The four paddocks are behind, around the oak. Three people on in the day, one in the farmhouse at night with the phone by the bed and a check at ten and at six.
Give us the dates, the dog and whether two are sharing, and Helen replies within a day with the suite, the price and the deposit. Viewings on Saturdays, eleven to one, no appointment. Bring the dog.
