Finding dog-friendly days out is really important to us, as we love to take our pup to new places, and we plan to allow dogs to stay in our cottages as long as they’re not left on their own. So we were delighted when we found the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary – only 30 minutes drive from us, very welcoming to dogs, and with a lovely sea view at various locations.
The donkey sanctuary is a charity with a number of sites across the UK, rescuing donkeys and providing them a safe, comfortable place to live, and working to improve the lives of donkeys around the world through education and by raising awareness of important donkey welfare issues. Sidmouth is just one of the charity’s seven visitable-sanctuaries, while they have other ‘closed farms’ for those donkeys who need additional support.
The Sidmouth sanctuary is mostly open-air, with different shelters for donkeys with different needs, including mules (both donkey and horse parents), blind donkeys with their sighted companion donkeys, and the elderly donkeys who were living out their days in comfort. It’s incredible to see these beautiful animals – the bonds between the sighted and blind donkeys were particularly heart-warming.
The indoor area (which isn’t dog friendly) contains a lot more information about the work that the Donkey Sanctuary does, and brings it to life with an example of two donkeys they rescued from severe neglect, and the treatment they required. Even more special as you can see and stroke the two donkeys in question, now recovered and safe.
If walking around the sanctuary and various donkey fields isn’t enough, there’s also a path that gradually leads down to Weston Mouth Beach. It’s a pretty steep walk – we got about two-thirds of the way down before a steep muddy patch and inappropriate footwear made us turn back. Plenty of blackberries though along the path for nourishment (we went in early September), and you can either eat at the Sanctuary itself, or drive on into Sidmouth for food and the obligatory ice-cream 😊
We’ve taken three families to the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary now, and each time the children have been so excited to see the animals. It really is a good day out, and we’d highly recommend it to any of our guests.
Ley Farm Cottages 