For Christmas last year myself and my partner, Sam, received an unusual gift, a 90-minute experience walking with Alpacas. We absolutely love animals, after doing a keeper day experience last year at Dudley Zoo, so this was quite the lovely sounding gift. Fast forward to April 2024, and we have completed our Alpaca Experience. But I’m sure some of you may be wondering… What exactly happens in an Alpaca experience? Is it any good? Well, I’m here today to talk about that experience and tell you what I thought of it.
Our experience was at Charnwood Forest Alpacas and was booked in advance on their website using our gift code (previously purchased by our mum on Travelzoo). Redeeming our code was easy to do and we were able to find a date to book our experience which suited us. The website was incredibly informative with lots of experiences available including our own one. Tickets can also be booked via the website directly.
On the day, we arrived at Charnwood Forest about 30 minutes before our experience began (They recommend this as you should sign in 15 minutes before your experience). Heading to the shop in the courtyard, we checked in with ease and purchased a well sized bag of Alpaca feed for £1 – during the experience, you get the chance to stop along the way, at this point the Alpacas will be looking forward to a tasty treat so it is highly recommended that you get them some feed. (Trust me, you should) The courtyard shop holds a range of gifts themed to the farm over a range of price – from keyrings to Alpaca themed goods made with soft Alpaca fur. Once wristbands were acquired, we waited outside for our experience to begin. It was a lovely warm day, and the courtyard was decorated for Easter – it was quite spacious and inviting with their Chilli bean café also located there. The food looked nice from what we saw – but we didn’t get anything on the day. A short wait later and our experience began as we were collected by our guide.
The guide took our group (which was about 15-20 people maybe?) to another area of the farm and after a short register, started to explain to us about Alpaca’s and general farm safety. There were no surprises in the safety briefing, and we were all content. Once the briefing was complete, we were introduced to our first Alpaca who demonstrated how to walk with your newfound Alpaca friend. Once this was complete, we were all assigned our very own Alpaca for the walk. Each Alpaca had their own unique name; Sam’s was called “Talk The Talk” whilst mine was called “Loose Cannon” (Don’t worry, he didn’t live up to his name that much!). Alpaca friends assigned; we were ready to walk. (Or Walk the Walk, that was another Alpaca name!).
We began our walk, led by our lovely guide, down into the neighbouring fields with lovely countryside views. During the walk, the guide was providing lots of facts and information about the Alpaca’s which made the experience educational as well as relaxing. The small Alpaca herd was pretty well behaved, walking without much incident across the field, apart from when one or two would prefer to sit down or eat some grass (Did lead to some amusing moments!). But don’t worry, the group would always wait if someone was falling behind. Our group was quite sociable with conversations breaking out during the trail, often prompted by one of the Alpacas doing something silly.
At the halfway point of our walk, we made our way to a small field where we had some bonding time with our Alpaca’s (Remember the food I mentioned earlier in the post? Time for this!) With their food in hand and plenty of fuss, the Alpacas were our best friends in no time. During this time, we were also able to get a few photos including the “perfect Alpaca selfie”. I found we had a lot of time here which was nice. It didn’t feel rushed, and it was a very enjoyable experience allowing for us to catch up with the rest of our visiting party and interact with the Alpacas. Once the time was up, we continued our walk back towards the main farm. Along the way, we went into a woodland area where we had a second stop with our Alpaca friends for some more photos and cuddles, before making our way back to the farm.
Reaching the farm again, we said goodbye to our lovely Alpaca friends who we now had bonded with nicely allowing the Alpaca’s to get a nice break. I observed that a lot of people started out a little nervous of their Alpaca but as the walk progressed you could see them get closer as the bond naturally formed. It was really nice to observe.
So, what did I think? I thought that the experience was absoloutely lovely. The staff were polite and knew so much about the animals that they worked with, and you could tell they were passionate about the farm as a whole. The Alpaca’s themselves were well looked after, happy, and easy to walk with. Just going to point out now, as I know a few of you are probably thinking it: No, Alpaca’s do not spit unless they really want/have to do so. They are not like Llama’s or Camels where you see them spitting a lot. Treat the Alpaca with confidence, care and respect & they will do the same back.
Overall, we had a magical experience at Charnwood Forest walking with their Alpacas and would consider returning in the future for another experience or to visit their petting farm where plenty of other residents are waiting to meet you. We had a brilliant experience and were so happy the entire time. Its an experience we would recommend to anyone who loves animals or wants a relaxing experience in the countryside.
You can book a range of experiences via their website which also contains full information and prices:
https://www.pukkapacas.com/
Want to see a small video of our experience? Check out our Tiktok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@themeparkinsanity/video/7355758236714192161?_r=1&_t=8lNoxIJY7I8
Thanks for reading,
Elise