NEWTON local Kelly Paton has spent this Christmas fulfilling her dream of raising a small flock of lambs and becoming a shepherdess with a difference.

Kelly was only young when she began thinking about a life with animals. ‘I’d always stand on the moor and see the shepherds and think, what a life,’ said Kelly, ‘but I just didn’t know what to do to get into it.’

As a carer of the blind, Kelly was used to taking on responsibility. This Christmas, she decided to change everything.

She quit her job, went full-time with her dog walking business and leased a small plot of land outside Newton Abbot to found her dream on.

However, Christmas came early for Kelly: ‘Friday 16th of December changed my life. I went down to a local market not expecting to get anything, but these little lambs were in the end pen with orphan written above them.

‘My friend showed me them and just I had to get them. I was going to outbid anyone that went for them. But nobody actually bid because nobody thought that they’d survive.’

Getting the lambs was just the start of the challenge and keeping them alive and well was soon brought into sharp focus.

Kelly said: ’With a van full of our dogs and only the front seat free we had six beautiful little lambs bundled in the front of the van with us. From that moment on I was committed to making sure these lambs lived.

‘All the while these dear little souls hardly moved. I liked to think they felt safe and loved already, but in hindsight, they were so poorly and vulnerable.

‘This is all new to me but it can’t be that hard to feed a lamb I was thinking to myself, until it dawned on me they’ve never even been on the bottle before.’

With help from her friend Clare Brimblecombe and support from mother Janice Paton, Kelly managed to get all the lambs settled into their new life. All, that is, but one.

‘Our only male, Elfie, was cold, struggling to breathe, and not moving. He came home with me and slept on my bed. I couldn’t sleep as his breathing was so bad, we had to get him to the vet.

'I picked Clare up and after a second sleepless night, I was exhausted but determined to get him on the right track. Having never had lambs before, I didn’t know if they got this poorly or if this was the end of the little life that I was so desperate to save.’

Despite the view of both Clare and the vet, Elfie made it through the first few days and regained his strength. The lambs will have made it to three weeks old on Friday, but that is not to say it’ll be plane sailing from there.

‘Life is non-stop now. I get up at 5am, walk the dogs, back for feeding at midday, then back to my business, then back again. I’m constantly up and down.’

Kelly’s dream, however, is yet to be fully achieved. After adopting these Christmas orphans, Kelly hopes to take on more sheep, ultimately using their wool to create clothing and sharing her journey online throughout. Updates on Elfie, Mistletoe, Cracker, Figgy, Pudding, and Snow will be on Tikitok and Facebook, under the name ‘The Devon Shepherdess with a difference’.