Hillside animal sanctuary

[I-say]

Has anyone been there? I live in Kent and was wondering if its worth a visit? Its in Norfolk so quite a drive. Thanks.

[ruthann58]

there is also redwings horse santuary in norfolk you could visit both on the same day cant say what hillside is like as i havent been for about 12 years but it used to be quite good

[lankeela]

Hillside is run by Wendy Valentine, who started Redwings but she no longer has anything to do with it, so she started Hillside, which is supposed to be for farm animals.

They do a lot of 'undercover' work to expose unsavoury practices and I believe were instrumental in bringing the culprits to book in the foot and mouth outbreak (or was it BSE?). This week they have been in the news for secret filmng at Bernard Matthews.

On the surface, they seem to do good work, but like most campaigning groups they tend to be a bit over the top and like a lot of charities the top people seem to drive about in very upmarket vehicles and live in big houses.

I remember the founder when she started Redwings, it was a couple of old nags in a mucky old rented stables, which she was thrown out of by the owners, and the fundraising was a table at car boot sales. Seems theres money to be made from some animal charity work.

If you are coming to Norfolk, why not visit the International League for the Protection of Horses, at Snetterton. Their work is well catalogued and they offered to take in the Redwings horses when the original place had to close, but I believe they said that all the horses would have to have been put down due to their condition.

[Fiszi]

I really wouldn't bother wasting my money on them. I used to work for them. It is still run by Wendy Valentine. They make a huge amount of money and most of it never goes back to the animals. On the outside they look lovely. They keep a very clean and tidy looking sanctuary. The keep any ill or rough looking animals where ther public wont see them. They use scare tactics to make people believe that silly, one off things are in fact standard farming practise. They have boards everywhere with terrible pictures at kids eye level. Most of these stories aren't true anyway. Even most of the apotion animals have died several times and and they've gon out and "rescued" a look-a-like. They may look lovely on the outside and be able to talk the talk but tthey are not what they seem.