PRIVATE ALPACA EXPERIENCE · MARKDALE, ON
Same barn, same alpacas, same hand-feeding. The difference is that Carolyn's hour is yours instead of being shared out.
$50 per adult · $25 per youth, ages 3 to 17 · Under 3 come free
Minimum sixty minutes
Over 300 Google reviews with a 5 star rating
Always indoors, whatever the weather
Wheelchair and stroller accessible
100% money-back guarantee
$50 adult, $25 youth
Ages 3 to 17. Under 3 come free
Minimum sixty minutes
A full hour with Carolyn and the herd
Your group, up to 15
Nobody else is booked into your time slot
Treats included
Always. No surprises at checkout
Always indoors
Whatever the weather
Wheelchair and stroller accessible
Clean footing, no mud, no manure walks
We bring out as many alpacas as your group needs. A small group gets a few, so nobody is surrounded by four alpacas all trying to eat at once. A larger group gets more, so nobody is left holding a handful of treats waiting for a turn.
Everyone feeds an alpaca. Every time.
If the weather is good, you may start outside with the boys. They live in their own field, away from the girls, and Carolyn will tell you why.
Whether you feed them out there is her call on the day. A bigger group usually does. A small one usually does not, because the boys come over all at once and there is no holding some of them back in an open field.
If it is cold or wet, we skip this part. You will just get more time with the girls.
A minimum of sixty minutes, and none of it spent watching from behind a fence.
Then you are inside for the rest of it. Clean footing throughout, no mud, nothing to walk through that you would not want on your shoes. Strollers and wheelchairs come straight in.
Carolyn runs through a few pointers on how to be around the alpacas. It takes a minute.
You stand in the centre aisle and Carolyn lets a group of the girls out to join you. Not behind a gate. In the aisle, with you.
Princess Wiggle Butt will take a gentle pet along her back for as long as you keep going. Goldilocks goes for a scratch under the chin, and once she has been out a while and is comfortable she may cush, which is to fold her legs under and lie down, so you can sit on the floor beside her.
Shanti takes some persuading to come out at all. Getting her back in is the harder job. At the end of a tour she will often lie down right in front of her own gate.
Carolyn hands out small bowls of feed and the alpacas do the rest.
That happens more than once. Carolyn swaps one group out and brings the next through. Depending on the time of year that might be the adult girls, the moms with their crias, or the yearlings.
You feed each group that comes out. Different ages, different characters, a different feel each time.
Kit Kat is smaller than most of the girls and runs the place. When she comes out, the others follow her out. When she decides she is going back in, most of them go with her.
All the way through, Carolyn is talking about them. Who they are, how they behave, how the farm runs. Ask her anything you like and take as many photos as you want. Both are encouraged, not just allowed.
Nobody is sharing your hour. There is no other family in the aisle with you, so if your group wants to stay with the crias a while longer, you stay with the crias.
When the tour finishes Carolyn walks everyone over to the farm house, where the shop is. She will show you what is there and where it came from, including the things she makes herself from our own alpacas' fibre. Then she leaves you to browse.
Many items made from the same herd you just spent an hour with.
Nobody.
When you book a Private tour, that time slot is yours. No other family is booked into it, and Carolyn is not splitting the hour between your group and anyone else's.
For some groups that is worth very little. For others it is the whole thing.
A four year old who would hang back behind fifteen strangers. A grandparent who cannot follow what is being said with other families talking at once. A birthday, where the point is the birthday. A group who want to take their time over photographs without feeling they are holding anyone up.
You are not getting more alpacas or a different barn. You are getting the same visit with nobody else in it, and fifteen more minutes to spend on it.
The V.I.P. tour is this same private booking with another thirty minutes, 10% off anything in the shop, and an alpaca plushie for the guest of honour to take home.
$75 per adult, $35 per youth.
See the V.I.P. Alpaca Tour“I love that we were able to book a private tour with Carolyn. We were able to interact with the alpacas at our own pace.”
Frédérique Vallée
“The grandkids loved the hands on experience and feeding them. One of our littles was nervous but by the end, she too was feeding the animals.”
Cindy Rosebrugh
“My wife and I had a private tour this morning, we both loved it. We enjoyed our one on one time.”
Greg T
Footwear
Closed-toe shoes. The barn is clean but it is still a barn
Weather
Tours run in rain, snow and wind, because you are indoors. If driving conditions are unsafe, you choose between a reschedule and a refund
Dogs
For the comfort of our alpacas, please do not bring dogs to the farm. Alpacas see a dog as a predator, and even a calm one changes how the herd behaves for the rest of the visit
Ages
Guests have ranged from two weeks old to 98 years old
Access
Wheelchairs and strollers come straight into the barn. Clean footing throughout
Booking ahead
Please book ahead. Tours run to a schedule, and when the day is full we cannot fit anyone else in
Come on the tour. If you get to the end and you do not think it was worth it, tell Carolyn and we will refund you in full.
Nobody has asked yet, but the offer stands.
$50 per adult, $25 per youth aged 3 to 17. Under 3 come free. Minimum sixty minutes, always indoors.
See available dates or book a Private TourTours start at 10am, 12, 2 and 4. A Private booking takes the whole slot, so the time you pick is yours.
Same barn, same alpacas, same hand-feeding, same Carolyn. Two differences. Nobody else is booked into your time slot, and the tour runs a minimum of sixty minutes instead of forty-five. That means Carolyn is yours for the whole hour, with no other group pulling her attention and nothing going on around you to distract from the alpacas. Nothing is held back from Public guests.
Yes, everyone does, every time. Carolyn brings out as many alpacas as your group needs so nobody is left waiting for a turn.
The tour runs. Everything you came for happens indoors. The one exception is driving conditions: if the roads are unsafe, you choose between moving your booking and a full refund.
Yes. Guests have ranged from two weeks old to 98 years old. A Private tour suits a child who would hang back in a larger group, because there is no larger group.
For the comfort of our alpacas and to have your best experience, please do not bring dogs to the farm. Alpacas see a dog as a predator, and even a calm one changes how the herd behaves for the rest of the visit.
Closed-toe shoes, and dress for the temperature outside. The barn keeps the wind, rain and snow off you, but it is not heated, so it will be about as warm as the day is.
Please book ahead. Tours run to a schedule, and when the day is full we cannot fit anyone else in. Even when there is room, turning up unannounced usually means waiting half an hour or more while we finish whatever we are in the middle of. Booking ahead means we are ready for you when you arrive.
As many as you like. Carolyn encourages it.
