ON a sunny day in early summer, the Georgian-fronted esplanade at Weymouth in Dorset is looking its elegant best. Beyond the flapping windbreakers and Punch and Judy show, a string of stoical donkeys carries swaying children across the sands, as they have for more than a century. Beach donkeys are as essential an ingredient of the British seaside as sticks of rock or fish and chips, but, 20 years ago, it looked as if the tradition could become extinct, with an increasing number of businesses closing as their owners retired. In the past decade, however, there has been a remarkable revival. Now, more than 900 of the animals ply their trade around the coasts—200 of them in Blackpool alone.
Melanie Llewellyn-Rush took over the reins of the award-winning West Hill Donkeys of Weymouth in 2011 after the previous custodian retired. Her current tribe comprises 29 donkeys, with a male/female mix and two on maternity leave. Every day from March to October, depending on the weather, the donkeys take up their positions beneath umbrellas and, after an invigorating roll in the sand, work from 11 am until 5.30 pm —with a one-hour break for hay and the occasional apple or carrot.
‘The donkeys are always keen to come to the beach and are queuing at the gate in the morning,’ says Mrs Llewellyn-Rush. ‘They look quite disappointed when they aren’t chosen—donkeys don’t like being bored.’
Denne historien er fra July 07, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July 07, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds