Jimmy’s a tonic!
SAY what you like about guinea pigs – at least they always abide by the rules.
“The Groundhog Inn has been sticking strictly to the 10pm curfew,” confirms Jimmy Doherty, who’s built a little pub for the guinea pigs on his Suffolk farm. “And yes, they’ve all been following the rule of six.”
Autumn At Jimmy’s Farm, which starts tonight on Channel 4, is the followup to the series he made in the spring, showing us how his place was coping in the early days of lockdown.
The work was tough, especially with a skeleton staff and the sudden lack of visitors seemed to have freaked some of the animals out.
“The sheep, goats and donkeys, they’re used to seeing lots of different people,” Jimmy explains. “They’re used to being petted and fed.
Village
“Our donkeys even come to recognise our regulars, so when we had to close to the public they looked particularly miserable.”
Lockdown did have its plus points, mind. For one thing, Jimmy and his team could catch up on jobs they had been putting off. Revamping that guinea pig village ( they like places to hide) featured high on their to- do list.
The result? Five highly desirable new houses (“I’ve even given them little wheelie bins outside…”), plus a church, hospital, castle – and yes, that guinea pig pub. “Oh, and we’ve also given them a circus now,” adds Jimmy. One creature the public won’t ’ be seeing, now they are back, is Jerry the alpaca.
“He’s now the king stud at a breeding farm in Essex,” Jimmy reveals.
But then some people may be glad to see the back of this creature – especially Jimmy’s pal Paul.
“Paul’s farm has lots of turkeys,” he explains, “so I lent him Jerry to protect them. Alpacas make very good bodyguards.
“Unfortunately, Jerry
Paul and broke his nose.”
Also known for playing up, as regular viewers will recall, is Steve Mcqueen. Steve is a meerkat, so named because he’s forever breaking out of the enclosure, albeit rarely on a motorbike.
But the promising news is he may have mended his ways. “Steve seems to have given up trying to jump the fence,” Jimmy reports. “The dominant female is going to give birth to a litter, so it seems he has a reason to stay home.”
So does this mean he’s finally accepting his domestic responsibilities?
“Well, let’s see what happens when they’re born, shall we?” suggests Jimmy. “Let’s see if Steve sticks around.” head- butted