Welcome to Little Hamlet Alpacas
My name is Dianne, and I welcome you to my website and the wonderful world of Alpacas.
I came across these amazing animals whilst in the U.S.A. I had never seen an alpaca before and knew nothing about them. I was captivated, and enchanted by them. Just looking at them gave me a feeling of peace and contentment. It is difficult to put into words but there was something about them I couldn’t explain but I knew I wanted to share my life with these animals. In 2004, I sold everything I had and one year later Little Hamlet Alpacas located in Cornwall began. I purchased 3 pregnant females and 3 boys all as pets and started to live the life I had always dreamed of.
By 2008 I had built up my herd to 19 all of them my beloved pets but later that year I lost half of them to bovine tb a common disease that affects alpacas which not only devastated me but left my fields empty and an overwhelming feeling of sadness. Then in 2010 the RSPCA asked me to take in a severely neglected herd of 6 alpacas. I agreed and despite it being incredibly hard work, new life was brought back on to my farm and my rescue work began. I kept the first 21 rescues and promised them they will have a forever home here with me. I have kept that pledge.
All the other rescues were brought back to good health,trained them to go into their individual feeding pens and to be handled for routine husbandry tasks such as toe nails clipped, vaccinations, worming, Vit ADE etc. To encourage them to go into their field shelters and to view them as a place of comfort and safety. They were then re-homed to kind and loving forever new homes. The rescue cases range from people who no longer want to look after their alpacas, through to grossly neglected alpacas brought here by the RSPCA ETC. Despite all the heartache, the pleasure they have given me cannot be put into words. The loss of my beloved alpacas to Bovine Tb made way to help a vast number of alpacas that were in need of help.
As you can see a lot has happened since 2004 and my journey so far has had many ups and downs but I have gained a vast amount of knowledge and as of 2025 gained 21 years’of experience and I get great satisfaction helping fellow alpaca owners who experience problems and advising those who are considering owning alpacas on the right way to care for these animals. In 2009 I was awarded the Felip Benevides Trophy for my work on Alpaca Welfare and in 2012 Animal Health and Defra contracted me to train their Animal Health Officers on all aspects of Alpaca Care, Behaviour, Welfare, Handling and Husbandry.
I have now retired and sadly due to ill health I am no longer able to take on any further alpacas, nor educational visits.I have just a few resident rescue alpacas left all of which are geriatrics that need additional care. The youngest is 16 years old and the oldest is 24 years young. All of which have a forever home here, all of them totally different, with different personalities and quirks but all beautiful, hilarious and magical. They are my pets, and I would never sell or re-home any of them - it would be like selling a member of the family.
I hope the information on this website helps those considering owning alpacas but also help those that already have them in their lives. It covers health,welfare,husbandry and behaviour. I highly recommend Eric Hoffmans The Complete Alpaca Book revised edition. It is expensive but in my opinion its a must have. You can find used copies on the internet at a reasonable price. Eric Hoffman states the most important skill you must have when owning or caring for alpacas is UNDERSTANDING THEIR BEHAVIOUR. Not only as a group but also their individual behaviour.