A PET pygmy goat called Bella, who was separated from her owners for more than week after being stolen, is set to become the star of a new mobile urban farm.
Twenty-month-old Bella will be appearing alongside her best friend Holly, a miniature horse, as the main attractions at Warescot Farm, a mobile petting zoo organised and run by neighbours Emma Skinner and Helen Bruce.
The farm is designed to fit in with primary and pre-school nursery syllabuses and will also feature Velvet, a former racehorse, pigs, hens, ducks, a pheasant, hedgehogs, turkeys, geese, a royal python and a leopard gecko.
Most of the animals will come from rescue centres while the turkeys, geese and pigs raised by Emma at her smallholding in Warescot Road, Brentwood, will eventually be sent for slaughter.
Emma, 34, a mother to Isabelle, Jack and Leo, said: "We want to be able to teach youngsters how to care for animals properly and have an appreciation of the British countryside – which is where the hedgehogs, owls and pheasants come in – but we also want to show children where food comes from.
"Lots of children can see animals but we want them to be able to touch them and handle them and get up and close with them.
"It always amazes me how many kids don't know where eggs come from, for example.
"At the end of the day, we want the farm to be educational and to give children a respect for wildlife."
Emma, a nutritionist who used to work in the Education Centre of Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, is often seen taking Holly out for a walk around Brentwood High Street.
She has already raised two Gloucester Old Spots (a breed of pig) in her garden for the table.
The farm will be available for parties, groups and public events.
She said: "To be honest, it's an idea that I've had for some time but when Bella got stolen we thought the whole plan had been thrown in the air.
"Then, after we had a spate of burglaries in the road, we were going to give the whole thing up, but now it's all calmed down and we are OK to carry on."
For more information, call 01277 216 205 or visit http://warescotfarm.co.uk
