July 16, 2019 4.24 pm This story is over 56 months old

Babies born at new alpaca centre near Lincoln

Two babies join over 100 alpacas herd

Several baby alpacas have been born at a new animal centre and café near Lincoln, where visitors can get up close with the soft and cuddly creatures.

JandJ Alpacas welcomed the babies, called cria, over the weekend and invited The Lincolnite to check them out.

It was opened by the Stanger family in Dry Doddington, which is around a 35-minute journey from the city centre, in December 2018.

They have been growing ever since with over 100 different coloured alpacas, and recently added baby Carter and Alaska to their collection.

“We think that we’ve still got about ten babies to come up until mid-August,” Clare Stranger told The Lincolnite over a chocolate alpaca topped cappuccino.

“In 2005 we started unpacking alpacas. My daughter Jess loved them and would come home from school and go straight to the field to spend time with Skylark.

“Our collection really grew from there as we bred them and started taking the alpacas to shows around the country.”

Visitors can even take the alpacas for a walk. Photo: Connor Creaghan for The Lincolnite

The Stanger family have won lots of awards for their alpacas including two wins in the black female category at the national awards.

It’s open every Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

Visitors to JandJ Alpacas can go on one of the three trails for just £3. Adult tickets are £10 and child tickets are £5 for an alpaca chat and feeding session.

Anyone above 13-years-old can even take the alpacas for a walk around the woods for £25 per person. Children from 8 to 12 can go supervised with an adult.

They have a café which sells teas, coffee, cake, homemade alpaca cookies, and ice cream. It’s free to get into and has a view of the alpaca herd.

In the café customers can even buy scarves, socks, hats and other products made from the soft alpaca fur.