Kiln Farm, Nidderdale: Yorkshire farm featured on The Yorkshire Vet hosts experiences where you can ‘speed date’ and go for a walk with a llama

Nidderdale Llamas is a family-run trekking centre based on Kiln Farm, Pateley Bridge, that was originally set up in 2009 and hosts experiences where people can be matched with their llama, learn all about the animal and go for walks.

The walks can range from short walks for the elderly, disabled, customers with health conditions or those who may not want to walk to half-day treks to the Smelthouses village or full-day walks to Brimham Rocks.

The longer walks include educational sessions where the owners, Suzanne and James Benson, explain the history and qualities of the animal and a break for cake and drinks or homemade picnic lunch. The minimum age for children range between seven and 14 depending on the duration of the walk.

The farm has grown from four llamas and one alpaca to 61 llamas and 10 alpacas.

“They’re hilarious creatures, full of character,” Mrs Benson said.

“You get a furry companion that walks at your eye level and you interact with them. It’s quite unique, a bit of fun and also educational.

“We speed date people to their llama; it’s very important to us for the animal’s welfare and also for the customer experience to get the best experience ever that they are matched to the correct llama.”

Mrs Benson, 54, from Harrogate, said that the welfare of the llamas are their top priority.

“Some llamas prefer ladies, some prefer men, some are a bit more cheeky, some are extremely well-behaved and walk alongside you,” she said.

“So for people who are feeling nervous we match them to one that is extremely well-behaved, whereas some people prefer a little bit of cheekiness.

“Llamas are all completely different characters, just like with humans, so we match in terms of body language, confidence levels, tone of voice and even what people are wearing. They get so much from it and it’s quite a giggle as well.

“Their welfare to us is the highest of priorities because the animals have got to be happy doing what they do and all of them are on a rota so none of them never have to do more than their fair share.”

Being featured on Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet with Julian Norton has helped to expose the business very well, Mrs Benson said.

“We first featured back in 2016 and we have been on 20 times,” she said.

“It’s just amazing being on [the show] and [Julian] does know his stuff about llamas.

“It helped [the business] amazingly because it has put us out there in the limelight in the UK, and also America and Australia.

“We get a lot of overseas customers as well and people tuning into the website and adopting the llamas. People who are enjoying watching The Yorkshire Vet, it really helps us on the farm.

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“It was a little bit nerve-wracking to start with but we soon got used to it and the TV crew have been brilliant, they never put an animal under pressure or us either.

“Everything you see on telly is what naturally happens. The crew are very mindful of welfare.”

There is a key difference between llamas and alpacas in terms of their behaviour.

“Alpacas are a bit more like teenagers,” Mrs Benson said.

“They don’t enjoy the interaction with humans as much, they don’t release endorphins, whereas a llama does.

“It’s not polite to stroke alpacas much, they get nothing from it. They’ll walk on a lead and they’re fun but a llama gets more from it and wants to be your friend and they’ll cuddle into you more.”

Each experience starts with an educational session.

“In all of our six options, we start with a base of getting to know the llamas and learning all sorts of different facts about them before you walk with them,” Mrs Benson.

“We’re quite keen on educating people so they get plenty of knowledge about the animals and also that helps the animal to relax and settle before they are matched to the correct human.

“We do schools because they are from South America, so we can relate that to history and geography but just on a level where people want to experience something different.”

As well as human behaviour, llamas also respond to colours and textures of clothing.

“We’ve had some llamas in the past who wouldn’t walk with anybody [wearing] yellow or with a furry hood,” Mrs Benson said.

“In the winter some llamas don’t enjoy people wearing woolly gloves or chunky gloves, they prefer them to wear thinner gloves. They’re very sensitive creatures.

“Some llamas aren’t fussed about what anyone’s wearing but we’ve got some who are more sensitive.

“We have to make sure we have assessed every situation before we match people up. We tell people to come in just casual country clothing but we do have a lot of hen parties come along and sometimes they can be wearing all sorts of clothing that flaps around.”

Their therapy sessions have received positive feedback.

“We’ve never had a negative comment,” Mrs Benson said.

“People find them so therapeutic to be with; it gives them escape from everyday life, busy jobs and pressures of life, and people can just tune out into the countryside.

“It’s really relaxing and you forget all your worries.”