Newtown care home residents' delight as two alpacas drop by for a friendly visit and afternoon tea

WS260222 ALPACA HERO
Residents at The Oaks Care Home in Newtown were given a visit by friendly alpacas Alex and Bethany Credit: PA Images

Residents at a Newtown care home were given a rather pleasant surprise when a couple of alpacas dropped by for a visit.

Alex and Bethany, alpacas from Admirals View Alpacas in Shropshire, took centre stage at The Oaks Care Home as part of a therapeutic visit.

Frances Williams, 100, said Alex and Bethany's visit was "lovely".

"Oh my gosh. What a shock," she said.

"I was just watching afternoon television when they walked in. It was lovely to stroke them."

Residents were said to be pleased to see alpacas Alex and Bethany Credit: PA Images

The pair joined residents for afternoon tea in the lounge as well as making use of the lift to visit residents on the top floor.

Daniel Hart, 42, who has worked in the care sector for 20 years, said: "We have a great team at The Oaks and we love coming up with new and unusual ideas to brighten up the lives of our residents.

"Some of our residents mentioned that they'd love a trip to Chester Zoo but we thought it would be more fun to bring the animals to them.

"The alpacas were a big hit and it was wonderful to see the look on everyone's faces when they arrived."

Staff at the care home said they were always trying to come up with new ways of brightening the residents' days Credit: PA Images

Sarah Tickle runs Admirals View Alpacas which has a therapeutic team of seven alpacas.

She said: "Alpacas are very friendly animals and they loved their visit to The Oaks Care Home.

"They're comfortable in the lift so even residents on different floors didn’t miss out on their visit."