It seems such a long time ago that our love of beagles first began; indeed it is, almost 30 years since we first saw a young beagle who had “escaped” from her owner in the parkland of Temple Newsham House, Leeds......I immediately thought “that’s the dog for me!”
We knew nothing at all about the breed, except that they looked adorable, so when the time was right for us both a little while later, we bought our first beagle, Branston.
We lost Branston after we had moved to an old village cottage in Austwick in the Yorkshire Dales. Soon after we were fortunate to have Sabinhay Singwell join us as we spent ten years refurbishing our cottage.
When the works were complete and we were finally able to sit down and relax we had the rare opportunity to purchase a very quaint cottage at the other end of the village. “Spoutscroft Cottage” - so called because of the natural spring which runs from the fellside behind the village - then became our “millenium project.” Once again we were juggling building work with normal life and also getting out and about the countryside with Singwell. When it was finally finished we set it up as a self-catering holiday cottage and were delighted to receive the highest rating of 5 Stars from the Tourist board. All pet owners who stay at the cottage are asked for a £10 donation for Beagle Welfare and I find it very rewarding to hand over a cheque to BW at the end of each year.
The devastation we felt at losing Singwell in 2004 was eased within a few weeks by the delight of having Sabinhay Fairmaid come to us from David Nicholson.  
                                         Click on the photos above to read more about our Beagles.