Us feeding some of the girls carrots

In 2006 we went llama trecking for a day.  We thought this would be a nice day out in beautiful countryside with interesting animals.  Little did we know that this day would change our lives!

We loved the llamas and  had a really great time with them, but it was at the end of the walk that we saw for the very first time some alpacas.  Alpacas are smaller and cuter than llamas and straight away we were hooked.  To cut a long story short, within a couple of years and after lots of googling, reading and a few alpaca courses, we had moved house from Buckinghamshire to Shropshire and we now have our own herd of these amazing animals.

If anyone is looking to improve the quality of their life, get more exercise or just enjoy the outside more we can definitely recommend alpacas.  It is very therapeutic to watch and spend time with these gentle, intelligent animals and to sit in a field with them and listen to them humming (how they communicate to one another) is very relaxing.

Our aim is to breed a high quality herd of coloured alpacas who are happy and healthy.

Why Titus Alpacas?

We named our herd Titus Alpacas after Sir Titus Salt who was the first person in England to process alpaca fibre.  He was born in Bradford in 1803 and as the eldest son he took over the family business in 1833 when his Father retired.  In this year Titus spotted a consignment of alpaca wool stored in a Liverpool warehouse.  No one else was interested in it but Titus thought he could experiment with it.  He found it difficult to weave but he persisted and he found that the wool could be transformed into the finest cloth if woven on a cotton or silk warp.  This was innovative and was the key to his lasting success and immense wealth as a textile magnate. Queen Victoria began to wear alpaca dresses made from her own alpacas’ fleeces making it very fashionable.  Titus greatly improved the living conditions and lives of his workforce and in 1848 he became the Mayor of Bradford.  He built a village where his workers could live and work and this was called Saltaire.  Titus was created a Baronet by Queen Victoria in 1869 which gave him the title of Sir.  Sir Titus Salt died in 1876 and his civic funeral took place on a bitterly cold day in Bradford and one hundred thousand people turned out to pay their respects.