Melanie Phillips pet portraits, all about the animals down on the farm

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Down on the Farm

My family home is a smallholding in rural wales. My parents are nearing retirement, they have a few animals and i go back to visit on a weekly basis as its only about half an hours drive from our cottage. My dad use to work on a milking farm in the morning and had his own cows and sheep to produce fine quality beef and lamb. He was well known for the quality of his stock.

Growing up on a small farm was wonderful as i was able to help with animals and i was always the one to bottle feed orphan lambs, piglets and i even bottle fed and reared my own calf. Sally is now fully gown and quite the mature lady! Farming was different when i was small, the farming process has changed a lot in the last 25 years, and that's only a very small time in the development of farming. We use to enjoy the hot summer evenings when it was haying time, all the farming neighbours would gather together to help each other with their hay - the hayrides were the best perched right on top of the bales, and when it was done food was laid on after to feed all the helpers. It was a real community spirit and we had a lot of fun.

Its a lot quieter at the farm these days as they don't have so many animals. At the farm i have 6 sheep and Sally the cow. I don't have enough land to keep them with me so they very kindly look after them! My dad has 'acquired' 6 peacock last year he hatched them from some fertile eggs.They are currently all quite young an haven't started making any noise yet - but give it time! its a good job our nearest neighbour is a few fields away!


This is a view from the farmhouse in the summer. Its not always so sunny though! It rains quite a lot in wales, or in the UK as a whole, which is why everything looks so wonderful and green.


These are just two of my sheep. Curly Sue (left) has been a pet of mine since she was a lamb, and has such a soft and gentle personality. I'm often known as miss Dolittle as i have a way of taming and befriending animals. I have had quite a few pet sheep over the years, all of which had names. When i befriend them they all became pets and so dad had almost half of his flock that he could never sell when they because too old to breed form! Then there is Sable (right), she is my youngest Ewe. None of my sheep breed as the ram we had sadly had to be put down last year as he has problems in his old age. We saved his life when he was born, he wasn't breathing and so we gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation and it worked. Sable is his daughter and she has rather large ears! She is a very stubborn sheep. All my sheep have their own personalities and i will take some photos of the others in the spring.


This is a panoramic view of what its like in the winter. When it snows its truly beautiful to see and the sunrise this particular morning was amazing. All of the animals look a lot dirtier and darker in the white snow. The white ducks no longer seem to be white! Jenny our family dog loves the snow as you can see in the photo below. Our chickens on the other hand aren't so keen, when you open the door for them in the morning and they see 'white stuff' outside their door they all seem to skid to a halt and don't come out. I don't really blame them as their feet must get terribly cold!


I will hopefully add some new photos over the coming moths. i want to take some new ones in the spring when the cows and sheep are our in the green fields. everything is a little muddy at the moment as the UK is going through some awful wet weather. Keep checking back!

Pet Portraits by Melanie

Traditional Hand Painted Pet Portraits by Pet Portrait Artist Melanie Phillips

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Down on the Farm