Moving from law to alpaca farming makes for a real change of pace

The land had been in Amy Saunders's family previously, giving her the foundation to set up the farm

A lawyer turned farmer has diversified her alpaca farm to be able to stay afloat as "people aren't spending money like they were".

Amy Saunders has been running Hideaway Farm in Dodford, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, for the last five years, but for the last year she has been working on turning it into a serious career rather than it being just a hobby.

The 28-acre site has 32 alpacas, each with its own name and personality.

Speaking ahead of Farmwatch, Ms Saunders said that "women are the core of the team", and she loved the "uniqueness" of her mainly female-run farm.

Despite not having had any farming experience, the single mother of three said she had been ready to move on from her corporate lifestyle and live a simpler life, closer to nature.

She had suffered repeated burnout and felt her mental health was affected by being in an office all day.

Working on building the farm had improved her happiness, she said.

Ms Saunders said she had faced "so many different challenges" in the last five years, particularly with the changes in the alpaca industry.

A number of large alpaca breeders had closed down, meaning there were lots of high-quality alpacas for sale, and that put added pressure on small farms such as Hideaway.

There are 32 alpacas at the farm

The farm offers a range of family-friendly activities.

Rustic glamping and camping experiences, silent discos and community volunteer days are among the things on offer, as well as alpaca-involved yoga, meditation and woodland walks.

The farm also offers wellbeing programmes for both men and women.

The project, which is off-grid and has composting toilets, has had more than 8,000 trees planted over four years and does not use any pesticides on the farm or its four acres of ancient woodland.