A cuddly new arrival down at Baschurch alpaca farm

It all began when the couple went llama trekking and saw the alpacas right at the end of their walk. Naturally, they fell in love with the interesting creatures and packed up their home two years later to start an alpaca farm, Titus Alpacas.

"It was an escape to the countryside sort of thing really," said Janet Ireland, 50. "We lived in Buckinghamshire six years ago, and decided to move to Shropshire to have the alpacas."

Now, Mrs Ireland and husband Paul have 26 of the animals at their home in Baschurch, and have just welcomed the newest member of the family, Amira.

Mrs Ireland said: "They are the best pets, they do the same thing as lambs when they lift all their legs off the floor jumping - you don't ever have to have the television on!

"They don't eat very much and they just need a shelter."

And with the adoring couple very fond of their unusual pets, they've found that alpacas have actually come in quite useful as chicken guards, too.

"We put the chickens in an area that's surrounded by the boys, and they are brilliant guards," she said.

"If they see a fox coming for the chickens they'll happy chase it away, and if they can corner it they'll kill it too.

"I don't think people realise their guarding qualities - we always tell people with chickens that they're the perfect protectors!"

But, of course, you wouldn't buy an alpaca simply to scare off the local foxes.

The Irelands are on a mission to breed some top-quality coloured alpacas, of which there are 22 shades.

"Well it's all the shades from white to black - you've got rose grey, fawn, all the browns and blacks," said Mrs Ireland.

"White fibre is considered the best, and black the most coarse. But worldwide there are less than five per cent that are black and less than five per cent grey.

"We want to make the coloured fibre as good as the white, and we have some lovely coloured animals here which just look great against the green grass."

And the males play a serious part in creating the best of the best.

Stud alpaca services are sold from the farm, with top males sent to mate with other herds to provide some quality genetics - and it's the same principle with their own herd.

Mr Ireland said: "We try and produce the best animal possible and mate the girls with the top males.

"The females have a gestation period of about 11 and a half months, and then they tend to mate again so they spend most of their lives like that and usually have a baby once a year.

"But it's just like anything really, you can match the best female and the best male and you've got a chance of getting an amazing young alpaca, or you could end up with something not quite as good!"

And with the top quality animals regularly winning shows and events, it's no surprise that the animals can cost from as little as £300 to as much as £75,000.

But whilst the Irelands do sell some of the animals, they specialise in selling the fibre and the products made from it, which is supposedly much smoother and softer than sheep's wool.

When the animals are sheared the material from their farm is often sent to local spinner, Sue Miller, who turns the fleece into all sorts of products as part of her Fleece to Finish business.

"We shear them once a year and the fibre is used to make all sorts, socks, pillows and felt and other things," said Mrs Ireland. "Sue turns it into socks and scarves and other things that she makes for us, and we sell those."

But with the socks particularly popular, it seems alpacas have found a solution to the age old problem of smelly feet.

Mr Ireland said: "People always come back to use saying they are the comfiest socks they've ever had - and there's no need to have a new pair every day either because of the way the fibre is formed.

"It doesn't catch bacteria in it like sheep's wool does so it doesn't smell," she laughed. "The men seem to like that about them!"