The former primary school teacher now looking after 60 alpacas and growing veg

“I like the balance. We have 100 loyal customers for veg boxes every week and I am improving the quality of my alpaca herd that are providing further opportunities.

“I had what was a really nice teaching job, with a nice house and money in the bank, but gave it all up for all this. I hold the view that if something is not working then to change it.

“In my case I was a reception teacher and I could see that the children I was teaching would benefit from a more diverse education to meet their needs, something more practical, like learning outside, focusing on each child’s individual interests.

“There was a little boy in my class who was obsessed with tractors and farming. He knew what tractor it was just from the noise of it coming down the road and knew exactly what he wanted to do in life even then, but he struggled in certain subjects yet knew he would have to do those. Unfortunately, there is only so much flexibility in education.

“At that stage I thought seriously about whether I should open either a children’s nursery or a farm.

Caroline had already put one foot in the world of growing, by taking on an allotment, but when she made her decision to go farming her first job was to find a farm and she did the most natural thing to her when wanting to find out who had land available.

“I went knocking on people’s doors, in 2008, to see whether anyone would let me have a little field to grow some produce. I knocked on 20-30 people’s doors until a gentleman said he had a little area that wasn’t being used, about 7 acres, and that it would take a bit of work, but I could have a go if I wanted. I did want.

“I started growing vegetables and taking orders and ended up that first year with 30 boxes per week. The gentleman eventually moved abroad but before he did I asked if we could buy the field. He could have sold it for more money to one of the many bigger farms around us, but he was kind enough to let us have it.

“We bought it in 2013 and that’s when we got temporary planning to live here, which is when I got my first alpacas. We then needed to be here to keep an eye on them. My partner Holly and I had a temporary dwelling at that time, a nice cedar lodge. We’ve still got it. It’s now part of our extension.

“I looked into buying unusual animals for a small fee and alpacas kept popping up, so I went to visit a local farm 20 minutes away and instantly fell in love with them, and that’s when my addiction started.

Love at first sight wasn’t the only attraction. Caroline had done her homework and knew that alpacas were more than just a different species of animal providing eye candy.

“I instantly knew it was the animal for me because of how they looked, but also because of the business aspect of them. My thought was that there was an animal you can do a lot with. There was their fleeces, the wool and what the wool can make, and there was the business opportunity in breeding them. That’s the bit that excites me, the breeding aspect.

“I’m enjoying learning about alpacas, their fleeces and improving the herd that includes 12 males out of the 60, which are predominantly Huacayas with around a handful of Suris.

Caroline has had some success lately too, in the show rings.

“We now go to 3 or 4 shows a year. We enter the national competitions each year and we are achieving better and better results, we’re starting to get championships now. I got a supreme champion last year with a Suri, which was great. Every year our genetic pool is improving. We sell into Europe as well now.

It is still a mixed farming operation at Goodness Farm and Caroline has no intention of going wholly alpacas at the expense of losing her vegetable growing and trade.

“We now have additional land for grazing the alpacas from some of our veg box customers, who love having them and will look after them.

“The balance of the vegetables and alpacas works well with the seasons. I enjoy growing so much. It is getting harder to keep efficient with costs going up, but I love the vegetables.

“We grow 90 varieties, enough to support the veg box scheme every day of the year, and we also sell our salad produce, grown in polytunnels, to local delis through summer. I love the organisation of what we plant all year round. We also have a fruit orchard.

“I am constantly thinking of the next thing and by summer we should have a popup café in a converted trailer offering food that we grow here. That’s the next thing on my list which will help with the organic produce. We tried glamping last year, but we’ve knocked that on the head for now. The key is to not stand still. Keep trying things. I think that’s the key with any farm, diversifying. Changing what you do.

“We also have an amazing and extremely passionate part-time based team and the support of our wonderful family. We would not be where we are today without all of their work and commitment.

“Walking the alpacas is becoming another bigger part of the farm business that we all love doing. We have a little forest where we walk the alpacas and we go off the farm. We are developing and expanding it including actually taking alpacas into care homes. It was one of the most moving things I’ve ever done, seeing the faces of those people who loved it so much.

“We also process our own fibre and have set up our own shop. We have a knitter and we sell alpaca wool.

Caroline and her partner Holly Benson, who works in education, have two children aged 13 and 8 years old. Caroline is originally from Hornsea and Holly from Market Weighton.

“Holly had more of a farming background than me. I was a golfer when I was younger and received a golfing bursary which led to me studying at Stirling University. I then decided on teaching and took my PGT course at Durham University before coming back to Yorkshire.

“I then became a farmer and I love it. It has all developed into something much bigger even though the farm itself is only small. It just goes to prove that you don’t need a huge piece of land to achieve your goals.