Miniature Donkeys for Wellbeing

Hip, hip hooray for 2024!

Thank you all for your patience following the MD’s hip replacement back in February. She is making a good recovery, supported by two new members of staff, and of course, our amazing volunteer team.

Our visits so far this year have been a wonderful mix of revisiting old friends and places, and meeting new friends across Norfolk, Suffolk, East Cambridgeshire and North Essex. We have made so many people happy, rekindled old memories and made new ones.

It is great that we are super-busy, but the downside is that we are now fully booked for visits in 2024.

If you are looking to book a MiniDonk visit for 2025 please email us, or fill in the booking form and a member of our team will be in touch.

Thank you to everyone who supports our work and helps to spread the MiniDonk love.

Maude’s Makes and Bakes Cookbook is available now

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What do we do?

We bring our gentle and friendly miniature donkeys to your community group, voluntary organisation, dementia group or special needs group.

We are based in South Norfolk and operate across Norfolk, Suffolk, East Cambridgeshire and North Essex. Basically, we visit anywhere where a mood boosting donkey visit would help people with their wellbeing.

If you want our donkeys to come to a Wedding, Private Party, Event or even a Funeral we can do that too.

Why do we do it?

Having worked with family carers professionally and having been a family carer for two parents with dementia, the group’s founder knows firsthand how stress can be relieved by spending time with these beautiful animals.

Sarah lost her mum to dementia in April 2017 and took the decision to set up a social enterprise to bring the benefits of interacting with mini donkeys to as wide an audience as possible.

How do you book a visit?

If you would like to find out more about how our visits work or would like to book a visit, you can e-mail us, give us a call or download a booking form.

Our visits do book up quite quickly and if you have a specific date in mind (wedding, summer fete, special birthday) call us to reserve your date. Bookings are confirmed on receipt of a completed booking form.

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Feedback from previous visits

You guys (most of all the donkeys) are awesome. Bringing joy and happiness to people who can’t get out easily. Keep up the good work

It was all fantastic but the room visits were the best. Had me in tears the reactions we had.

Highlights were being able to have the donkeys up close even for residents nursed in bed, to be able to tell residents’ families about the visit and have photos to show them. Sarah and volunteers went out of their way to make it a special visit. More visits, more donkeys, we love you!

Thank you, they were amazing. The patients loved them.

It was the most special visit for our residents, staff and extended families. Thank you so much.

The donkeys came to visit our tenants and Pippin went into the room of a very poorly lady. The look on her face was priceless. Thank you for bringing some joy and love to our setting.

Amazing reactions of residents, especially those with restricted communication. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Smiles all round, thank you.

Your visit encouraged the residents outside into the sunshine. They enjoyed stroking and interacting with the donkeys as well as chatting to each other. So nice to see them enjoying themselves. Thank you.

The main highlight has to be with one resident who never leaves her bedroom. This lady suffers from dementia and the donkeys visited her in her bedroom. As soon as she saw them her face lit up. She absolutely loved them.

The residents enjoyed interacting with the donkeys and being able to touch them. They were interested to hear all about them and they loved them being in the lounge as most of the residents are not able to get outside.

You kindly took two little donkeys into my wife’s room, to say it made our day is very much an understatement, in fact my wife said ‘it is something I will never forget’.

Pixie and Bo Peep were the best behaved donkeys ever, our residents thoroughly enjoyed their visit… I cannot recommend Sarah, her donkeys and fabulous volunteers enough.

You get smiles where nothing else can – thank you so much

My mum is one of the residents you refer to. I visited her this evening, words are a struggle but she was definitely trying to tell me about the donkeys! Thank you so much for visiting her.

We were delighted with your visit, all ages and abilities loved the friendly donkeys.