Springwood animal sanctuary, a family run, not for profit organisation, which combines people’s wellbeing alongside the rehabilitation of donkeys and horses has moved to Carmarthenshire. Springwood has teamed up with local charity The Missing Kind, to launch and run Kindavillage, a new mental health respite centre and animal sanctuary near Pencader, Carmarthenshire.

The Missing Kind is a Carmarthenshire charity that shares kindness as its message and say,

“Our network of social enterprise venues around the UK are set up to deliver social impact on a daily basis, providing facilities and services in their local communities.“

Mental health therapist, Jaqui Howe, who is one of the founders of the Springwood Animal Sanctuary and is delighted that the new merge with the charity means they can apply for grants to provide retreats for people who were previously unable to afford it.

Jacqui provides wellbeing sessions for children through to corporate events and has a passion to help vulnerable adults and teenagers. Those who have previously attended Jacqui’s retreats have said that being part of nature as well as learning easy-to-remember mindfulness skills, was most helpful.

Jackie founded the Springwood animal sanctuary with her husband in 2012, based in Surrey, as a personally funded project to care for unwanted, previously abused and retired equines. In 2016 they moved to Sussex. Jacqui has had a passion for nature and animals since an early age. She is an experienced holistic therapeutic practitioner and ‘Mindfulness with Animals’ coach. She brings these things together, combining them with her lifetime experience with horses and dogs, to offer a compassionate and very effective way of enabling both people and animals to connect, trust and heal.

After 8 years of being based in Sussex, they have merged their social enterprise with The Missing Kind charity, another social enterprise and are moving to West Wales to continue their journey.

 Jacqui’s partner David helps with the land and they are looking forward to working on it and rewilding it. The land has been traditionally farmed as a monoculture and treated with chemicals. Over the next few years they will reintroduce natural biodiversity, creating a haven for wildlife – and for the unwanted or previously abused equines in their care.

“It’s about nourishing nature to nourish people. And our herd will have 80 acres of Welsh countryside to explore – and we’ll be living on site again. It’s our dream come true.”

The cost of the move is the main complication to the project. Springwood calculates the costs will be around £20,000 to install fencing, mud control, field shelters, stables, and to transport the​ nine horses and two donkeys. Lockdown restrictions may have caused some delay in the travel plans, the move finally went ahead in November, “All 230 miles and 52 legs” as Jacqui joked on their weekly online updates.

They say the neighbours have been friendly and welcoming, particularly the Pencader facebook group and the Carmarthen Vegan group too,

“It seems there are lots of alternative businesses, health food shops, holistic practitioners etc. in the area which is very exciting to discover.”

Looking to the future, Jacqui hopes that the outdoors nature of the retreats, and the one and two-bed cottage accommodation mean that business can function as near to normal as possible. Just like ​many organisations, the sanctuary has been unable to generate the regular income under the Covid-19 restrictions.

The move was partially funded by additional donations from the public through a crowdfund campaign, and Jacqui plans to auction a cottage holiday stay in The One Voice for Animals UK Christmas Auction (running from November 29 to December 5).

Read more about KindaVillage on their website.

Visit their website to find out more about Springwood Animal Sanctuary.