A Day With The Donkeys In Sidmouth

I recently visited The Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth, Devon, and I have to admit that it was nothing like what I expected. I knew there would be donkeys there, obviously haha, and I expected some fields, barns and perhaps a small visitors centre. What I didn't expect was the sheer scale of the place. It's huge!

The Donkey Sanctuary is located a little outside Sidmouth, surrounded by some of that beautiful East Devon countryside that I have become quite fond of. Rolling green fields, woodland and the sea somewhere beyond the hills. It was also a beautiful day when I visited. Mostly blue skies with those patchy white clouds that occasionally block the sun for a few minutes before moving along. Perfect walking weather really. As it happened, I was staying in a cottage not too far from the sanctuary itself.

The Donkey Sanctuary is completely free to enter, which surprised me considering how large and well maintained the place is. I kept thinking about how much it must cost to operate something like this. There are buildings, staff, huge areas of land, veterinary care, food, maintenance and, of course, a LOT of donkeys to look after.

The charity itself has been around since 1969, when it was founded by Dr Elisabeth Svendsen. What started as an effort to help donkeys in need eventually grew into something much bigger, with the organisation now involved in donkey welfare far beyond Devon.

Considering entry to the Sidmouth sanctuary costs absolutely nothing, I felt like I should contribute something.

There were obviously donation points around, but I decided to buy one of the visitor guides instead. The guide appeared to be primarily aimed at children, but that didn't bother me haha. I was going to be walking around looking at donkeys all afternoon so I don't think buying a children's donkey guide was going to damage my reputation too much. Besides, it also covered the Paleontology of the place, so it was quite a good one actually.

The first thing that struck me once I started walking around was just how good the sanctuary looked. I've visited animal sanctuaries before and they can sometimes have a slightly makeshift feeling to them. That's understandable of course. These places usually have limited resources and the priority is looking after the animals rather than creating a beautiful visitor attraction. This place felt different.

Everything looked incredibly well organised and cared for. There were large paddocks, clean barns, walking routes, information boards and plenty of open space. The whole place felt more like a very large country estate that happened to be populated by donkeys. And the donkeys themselves looked incredibly content.

I'm obviously not an expert on donkey psychology, so I can't ask one how satisfied it is with its current living arrangements, but they certainly looked happy to me. Most of them seemed remarkably relaxed.

Some were grazing. Others were standing around together doing what I assume donkeys do when they have absolutely nothing important planned for the day. A few seemed interested in the humans walking past, while others couldn't care less about us. The interested ones would often walk towards the fence and stand there. Apparently this was invitation to be stroked by people. They seemed to quite enjoy it.

There is also a section for "Donkey assisted therapy" which I originally thought sounded ridiculous. By the end of the day, after spending time with the donkeys myself, I now completely understand how they could help with mental health. They are incredibly gentle and empathic animals. I can totally see how they could help ease anxiety at least.

One thing you quickly notice is how different they all are. Before spending time somewhere like this, it's easy to think of a donkey as simply a donkey. Grey animal, big ears, job done. Not quite.

There are different sizes, colours, coats and personalities. Some immediately walk towards people while others keep their distance. Some seem incredibly chilled while others are constantly watching everything going on around them. Those ears are particularly expressive.

I think that's part of what makes donkeys so endearing. Their faces already have a naturally thoughtful expression, then you add those enormous ears moving around independently and they look like they're constantly analysing the world. Perhaps they are.

One of my favourite moments of the visit happened when I came across a member of staff grooming a donkey called Murphy. The member of staff was deaf and was quietly getting on with the job while Murphy stood there being groomed. There was something incredibly peaceful about watching the two of them together.

Grooming an animal might look like a simple task from the outside, but there is clearly trust involved. You're brushing around its body, moving close to it and touching areas where an animal could easily decide it has had enough of you.

Murphy, however, seemed perfectly happy with the arrangement. Very happy actually. He stood there looking like someone at a luxury spa who had booked the premium package haha.

I stayed for a little while watching them. The staff member clearly knew Murphy well and there was an obvious familiarity between them. It's those little interactions that probably tell you more about an animal sanctuary than any sign or brochure ever could.

Animals can't read mission statements. They only know how they're treated.From everything I saw that day, these donkeys appeared to be treated extremely well.

The sanctuary was also much more peaceful than I expected considering it is a visitor attraction. There were families around and quite a few children, obviously, but because the place is so large everybody gets spread out.

At times I found myself walking along with nobody immediately around me. Just fields, donkeys and the occasional sound of one of them making its presence known. Donkeys, though gentle as I said earlier, are not particularly subtle when they decide to make a noise haha.

Another thing you'd notice there are all the memorial platelets left everywhere. They're often dedicated to memories of loved ones; human and animal alike. It's obviously a very beloved place with so many people having valued it. There are also many people that bequeath to the charity, the names of whom can be seen displayed on large signs next to the Maze.

After walking around for a while, coffee was required.

Thankfully there is a very nice cafe on site, so I went inside and ordered myself a coffee and a muffin. This also happened to be excellent timing because the weather decided to do that very British thing where perfectly pleasant sunshine suddenly turns into rain for absolutely no reason. It wasn't even proper rain. Just a light drizzle that lasted a few seconds. A bit disappointing actually as we could use some rain. It's been drought conditions in the UK for over a month. Everywhere is looking very dusty.

I was sitting comfortably inside the cafe with my coffee when it happened, so for once I had accidentally timed things perfectly. By the time I was ready to go outside again, it had stopped. Excellent!

The cafe itself was another reminder of how substantial the sanctuary is. This isn't a tiny shed selling instant coffee and packets of crisps. The whole visitor setup is surprisingly polished. That continued to puzzle me throughout the day. How is this place free?

Obviously the answer is donations. It made buying my little children's guide seem like a particularly good decision in the end. If you're visiting somewhere like this for several hours, using the facilities, walking around the grounds and enjoying seeing all the animals, I think contributing something if you can is only fair.

Even buying a coffee, having some food or picking something up from the shop helps. And you get a nice day out in return. That's not a bad arrangement.

After my coffee and muffin I continued exploring.

The sunshine had returned as though the drizzle had never happened. The clouds were still moving across the sky, occasionally throwing shadows over the fields. I actually prefer conditions like that for photography. Completely clear blue skies can sometimes make photos look a little flat, especially around midday. A few clouds create changing light and give the sky some character.

The donkeys, of course, couldn't care less about any of this. Besides the donkeys also have shelter so they could always go indoors.

I wandered around for quite a while, stopping whenever I found an interesting group. Some of the donkeys would stand incredibly close together, almost leaning against each other. They are social animals and you could really see that in the way they behaved.

There was something quite calming about simply watching them. Modern life is constantly trying to get your attention. Phones buzzing, emails arriving, videos playing, people arguing about nonsense on the internet. The donkeys have none of these problems. Eat some grass, stand next to your mate, occasionally shout very loudly, seems like a decent life philosophy to be honest 😂. At some point I actually found myself feeling a little envious of the donkeys. There was even a music room where some of them appeared to be, you're not going to believe this, dancing 😂. A donkey disco!

What impressed me most, though, was the amount of space. I really can't emphasise enough how much larger The Donkey Sanctuary was than I expected it to be. You can spend hours walking around. There are different areas and paddocks and you keep discovering more donkeys. There are also gardens, orchards, information rooms and a maze. I underestimated the maze until I actually got lost in it. It took me 20 minutes to find the exit.

Just when I thought I had probably seen most of the sanctuary, another path would appear. More fields. More buildings. More donkeys. I started wondering how many donkeys were actually there.

It's also beautifully situated. East Devon is already a lovely part of England, so putting a huge animal sanctuary amongst all that green countryside gives you a pretty good combination. Although "green" these days really means "brown" thanks to the lack of rain.

Eventually, after spending a good portion of the day there, it was time for me to leave.But instead of simply heading directly back, I decided to walk down towards the coast. It's a couple of miles walk down-hill and then down about 100 steps to sea level. It takes you through woodland. I didn't really know what to expect when I started walking, but the landscape changed surprisingly quickly.

One minute I had been surrounded by open fields, and before long I was walking through what felt like untouched forest. There was also a stream making it's way down the hill as well, winding through the footpath, making it difficult to walk without slipping, and deeper channels in the ground though the thick bushes. The sound of moving water ever present.

The trees close in around you, the temperature drops slightly beneath the canopy and all the sounds change. You stop hearing roads and buildings and start hearing leaves, birds and the occasional crack of a branch somewhere in the distance. It felt remarkably wild considering I had just left a major visitor attraction.

The sunlight coming through the trees was beautiful too. Because the sky had been a mixture of sunshine and patchy clouds all day, the light kept changing as I walked. One moment the forest would be relatively dark and atmospheric, then the sun would appear through the clouds and suddenly illuminate patches of leaves and branches.

This is exactly the sort of thing that photographs never quite capture properly. You can get a nice image, sure, but it doesn't really recreate what it feels like standing there. The changing light, the breeze moving through the trees, the smell of damp earth and vegetation (mixed in with a distant whiff of donkey poop). Sometimes you just have to put the camera down and look.

The route eventually takes you down towards the beach and the Jurassic Coast. By this point I had already walked quite a bit around the sanctuary, so my legs were beginning to remind me that I had been on my feet for most of the day. I sat on the pebbles staring into the sea. There were few people with their dogs also enjoying the same view. Some of the dogs came to say hello. After resting a little while, I made my way back up the cliff, and eventually back to my cabin.

I will probably create a dedicated post showing my descent to the beach and back. It was quite interesting in and of itself, but this post is already too long.

Peace & Love,

Adé