Jenifer Tucker's blog

Today was the day that the donkeys down on the Main Yard were 'turned out' onto the spring grass. For those of you watching the webcams earlier, you would have seen about 50 donkeys galloping around their paddock... who would believe that some of them are over 40 years of age!

Spring has arrived and out for their very first walk this year is Barney, Dixie, Shirgar, Bramble and Jasper with their donkey carers for the day - Susan, Keith, Maxine, Jean and Keith. I took this lovely photo of them all when we met up along one of the walks around the Sanctuary.

It's not every day that you see a herd of donkeys galloping in front of you! That's just what happened on Friday as I drove past Woods Farm having been to take photos of the 13 Irish donkeys that arrived safely earlier in the week.

Today the Sanctuary was hosting this year’s Colyton Raleigh & District Ploughing Association ploughing and produce show and what a sight to see... vintage tractors through to modern tractors ‘splitting the ridge’. For me though, the attraction was waiting to watch two donkeys showing how to plough.

Last week I was sat in the office wondering where does time go and noticing that the leaves on the trees were beginning to turn a golden colour. With the calendar poised to enter a new month, I wondered if we might have any donkeys called September and here she is!

It's always lovely to hear why people chose to make a donation to the Sanctuary, like Paula and Martin who married on Friday 11th June 2010 at Bowood Hotel in Wiltshire. Instead of wedding gifts, they requested their family and friends to give a donation in lieu of any wedding gifts. I asked Paula why donkeys?