We have lived in Stonehaven since 1984. It is a market town built round a natural bay on the north east coast of Scotland just south of Aberdeen. Stonehaven is surrounded by dramatic cliffs and has several tourist attractions - Dunnottar Castle, (used in Mel Gibson's 'Hamlet'), Heated Outdoor Swimming Pool, (the last one in Scotland), Folk Festival, Feeing Market, Farmers Markets, Highland Games, various Harbour Festivals and not forgetting the world famous Fireballs Ceremony on Hogmany. Stonehaven is a busy little town where there is always something going on for locals and  visitors alike. The town is also the gateway to Royal Deeside and all it's castles and various other tourist attractions as well as the stunning countryside and coastline.  

We have been breeding and showing rabbits since 2000 but have kept pet rabbits for around 12 years before that. Over the years we have had various Dwarf Lops as pets and so my interest in rabbits grew. I subscribed to Fur & Feather to learn more about the different breeds available,  husbandry, breeding and showing these lovely animals. I then joined the British Rabbit Council and after visiting a few shows I decided that I would like to keep Miniature Lops. I arranged to visit Vari Dafters and Susan Anderson and bought my foundation stock from Susan. We bought hutches, moved the Minis in and began breeding and showing. We started with sooty fawns then brought in some black otters but went back to sooty fawns again.

We have also had Netherland Dwarfs since 2000 when Ray Everitt gave us a start with them in black and tan. This year we imported a pair from the top stud in Holland to add some fresh blood to the lines. The imports have fantastic colour and hopefully breeding the two lines together will improve on what we have now.  

In 2002 I  fell in love with the sprightly Polish rabbit and was lucky enough to acquire quality stock from Dave Sim who shows as Lothian Reivers with his stud partner Kenny Bryant. The Polish gradually took over in my shed in the following years so much so that I no longer have any Mini Lops. At the moment we keep Polish, mainly in siamese sable, himalayan and red eye white although we are working with a few other colours.

A while later we were introduced to Belgian Hares and after building some extra large hutches we bought a pair of Hares from the late Peter Taylor. We have since brought in Hares from Winston Laud and are breeding the two blood lines together with good success both at stock shows and at open shows

We are members of various Scottish  area clubs and National breed clubs and travel all over Scotland, as well as south of the border, to show our rabbits. I am also an intermediate judge. This hobby involves a lot of work in the shed, early mornings and long journeys to get to shows, but it is very rewarding to watch youngsters grow up, make the show table and come home with some prize cards and the occasional trophy. Our rabbits have done well at various shows up and down the country, but we continually strive to breed rabbits closer to the breed standards.  Each National breed club states the standard for the breed and this is what the rabbits are judged on at the shows.  We have made some great friends  from all over the country through this hobby, some we meet with yearly at The Bradford Championship Show ( now held at Harrogate) which is the rabbit worlds equivalent to Crufts.

Many thanks to Les Black Photography for the stunning photos of the town and the castle.