Alpacas in spotlight at Sandwell Valley Country Farm
They definitely have the cuteness factor – but these cuddly new arrivals at a Black Country farm are not only good to look at.
If visitors at Sandwell Valley Country Farm get close enough, they will also be able to hear two-year-old Lola and Lollipop hum.
The alpacas, a first at the West Bromwich visitor centre, make a humming sound when they are content, say staff.
"They've only been here a week and they've done a lot of humming, sot they seem to be quite happy so far," said Sarah Walsgrove, senior visitor services officer at the farm.
The alpacas, who came from Stoke where they had been kept as pets, are in a corner of the farm with rabbits and Shropshire sheep as their immediate neighbours.
The pair are walked out on leads before the farm opens to get them used to their new surroundings.
Farm stocksman Lewis Hall said: "When they have been here for a while, we'll bring them out while visitors are here but it's a bit early for that yet."
However they are not the only alpacas in Sandwell. At Forge Mill Farm visitor centre, on the other side of the M5, two pregnant alpacas are preparing to give birth, one next month and the other in August.
The babies, when they are ready, will be brought Sandwell Valley Country Farm to be cooed and fussed over by visitors, just like Lollipop and Lola.
The lovable duo join Tamworth pigs, Bagot goats and other rare breeds at the farm.
