Di’s Animal Haven
After recovering from an operation, Di decided to take a new direction in her life, and so her animal sanctuary began…
Life lesson 12. Never get between a pig and her breakfast.” There is a hint of hard experience behind these words of wisdom from Di Slaney, just one more story among many – including how to handle an amorous goat and how to administer animal antibiotics without injecting oneself accidentally!
All rather different problems from those that used to challenge Di when she was a high-flying marketing consultant.
“As anyone who has their own business will know, it tends to consume you and I was looking for an antidote, something equally busy and preoccupying but very different, to jolt me out of always being on a computer or in a car going to meetings,” she explains. “It was while I was in a hospital bed recovering from an operation that I thought, if this had been life-threatening, what would I have regretted not doing? I would have regretted not writing, so I signed up for an MA in Creative Writing and when I finished that course, I treated myself to some chickens. It was the start of the slippery slope.”
Di and her husband Alan decided to buy six acres of land attached to their Grade II listed, 400-year-old Nottinghamshire farmhouse.
“I thought it would be lovely to bring that piece of land back to the farm. I had always been passionate about animal welfare, so bringing animal life back to that land would restore some kind of structure and order and purpose.
“We now have about 150 animals, the majority of which are rescued or rehomed from wildlife centres. There are 80 hens, 16 ducks, four geese, some goslings, two piggies and two donkeys called Jack and Hugo that we foster from the donkey sanctuary. I also have 22 sheep and 20 goats from different rescue centres, all different ages and breeds.
All have sad stories to tell, some with neglect and
“If this had been life-threatening, what would I have regretted not doing?”
abuse, others with health issues. It’s all very much about giving the animals a home for life and a quality of life they wouldn’t have elsewhere.”
It’s been a sharp learning curve for Di – who in a wry reference to The Good Life, describes herself as “more Margot than Barbara” – and her very patient, practically skilled husband, Alan.
“It is a bit chaotic, but it’s certainly fulfilling and I’m far healthier, both physically and mentally,” says Di. “The process hasn’t been smooth – we had lots of things go wrong – but without those experiences, I wouldn’t have learned from them and I wouldn’t have been able to invest the emotion back into my writing. Sometimes the fear of things going wrong paralyses you, but people are very resourceful and resilient. Just make the best of things and believe you can do it – because you can!”