Claddagh Farm is located in the Hamlet of Hartford, just outside of the town of Hagersville. We moved to this location in April of 2005 after having lived just north of Elmvale, up on Georgian Bay, for 12 years. After Mum passed away in April of 2003, Dad & I decided to sell the house up north and move to a location closer to Toronto and with milder winter weather than what we had to deal with up north. Four feet of snow was nothing unusual at the old place and all that shovelling was getting to be too much of a grind. Not to mention the fact that virtually all of my friends, and my business were a two and a half hour drive away.
It took a long time to find jus the right place. We knew we wanted to be in the country. We knew we wanted to be in an area with milder winter weather. And we knew that the property had to be eligable for a kennel licence. Our realtor knew up front ....... no kennel licence = no deal! We saw several properties that fit the kennel licence requirement, but none of them were right. They were either too close to neighbouring properties, or too close to the roads, or required too much work to fix up, etc. And then we found this place.
The farm is 9.25 acres of rolling land. Coming from an Irish/English heritage, I chose the name Claddagh because the claddagh is an Irish symbol signifying Love, Loyalty, and Friendship > elements that to me, embody the spirit of our companions animals. Here at the farm we enjoy the companionship of our many dogs and cats; as well as the pygmy goats, a small flock of sheep, rabbits, a young llama, and of course, Chatterbox the cockatiel. I'm also interested in adding a few Alpaca's at some point.
The farm is a work in progress. We have lots of projects on the roster. Fencing, upgrading barn stalls, renovating the garage into an interior room, and more. I have a vision of what I want it all to be like when it's done, but it is a slow process, as we have to do all the work ourselves.
Dad seems really happy here. He spent a portion of his childhood growing up on a farm in England, and I think this place brings back memories. And the rolling countryside is reminicent of the English countryside. He's often said that he thinks Mum would have liked this area (although NOT the farm itself > she was a city girl through and through!), and wished he'd known about it years ago.
Life on the farm is mostly taking care of the animals and maintaining the property. Nine plus acres gives new meaning to mowing the lawn! And yes ..... except for the driveway and the land where the house and barns sit, the entire property is grass that needs to be mowed! Hmmmm ..... gotta get those sheep grazing!!!
Since moving down here and being so close to so many things after being isolated for so long up north, I've been playing catch up with all my young dogs ....... taking them all to basic obedience classes for the socialization. I take them to the Hamilton Dog Obedience Club in Ancaster, McRae Dog Training in Caledonia, and Scholars In Collars in Burlington. The latter two places are run by friends of mine. I also rent the Scholars In Collars training hall on weekends and teach dog training classes of my own ..... Lifestyle Dog Training. http://lifestyledogtraining.blogspot.com/
In addition to caring for our own dogs, we have also taken in foster dogs for the Jack Russell Terrier Rescue of Ontario, and the Sandy Lake Dog Rescue. We also do pet sitting and we host a few dog competitions and training workshops here on the property.
Here are some photo's of what we left behind .........
This was right outside our front door. The snow is about 4ft high and we had to shovel pathways from the house to the cars; and the house to the kennel building; and pathways for the house dogs to go outside.
This is a shot of Dad taken December 2004 after the first big snow fall. He's just finished shovelling the pathway to the driveway. The house up north was in a very pretty area in the summertime > cottage country; but in the winter it was brutal
This is downtown Elmvale in December of 2004 > our LAST winter up north!
