As covid restrictions continue to ease, we are pleased to be back out delivering visits, operating in a covid-safe manner, wearing relevant PPE and taking regular covid tests. We are able to bring the donkeys indoors where that meets with the requirements of the location being visited. Our visits are proving very popular and we recommend booking well in advance.
We continue to appreciate any support you can provide us with at this difficult time. You can Browse our Minidonks Merchandise, Sponsor one of our Minidonks, and you can Make a donation via our Justgiving page.
Thank you.
What do we do?
We bring our gentle and friendly miniature donkeys to your community group, voluntary organisation, dementia group or special needs group.
We are based in South Norfolk and operate across Norfolk, Suffolk, East Cambridgeshire and North Essex. Basically, we visit anywhere where a mood boosting donkey visit would help people with their wellbeing.
If you want our donkeys to come to a Wedding, Private Party, Event or even a Funeral we can do that too.
Why do we do it?
Having worked with family carers professionally and having been a family carer for two parents with dementia, the group’s founder knows firsthand how stress can be relieved by spending time with these beautiful animals.
Sarah lost her mum to dementia in April 2017 and took the decision to set up a social enterprise to bring the benefits of interacting with mini donkeys to as wide an audience as possible.
How do you book a visit?
If you would like to find out more about how our visits work or would like to book a visit, you can e-mail us, give us a call or download a booking form.
Our visits do book up quite quickly and if you have a specific date in mind (wedding, summer fete, special birthday) call us to reserve your date. Bookings are confirmed on receipt of a completed booking form.
Mini Donks on Facebook
We’re going way back into archives today, before we had the lorry! We were bringing happiness and smiles then, and are so happy to be back doing it again today.
Have a great Sunday. Xxxx
🌞🌞Happy Sunday to you all x great photos xx 💝💝💝
The donkeys are taking a week off! They have worked so hard these past few weeks, we have been visiting everyone we can, but don’t worry, we always make sure that no individual donkey does too much work per week. The feedback that we have been getting recently has made us all very happy and proud. We always ask every place we visit for their feedback and to tell us if there is anything we could do better. We also ask what were the highlights of the visit, and this is what they said;
“The whole home is still talking about your visit. The night staff reported that one lady couldn’t get to sleep because she was so excited remembering the moment the donkeys came into her bedroom!”
“We cannot thank you enough, after such a hard time, with no one coming into the home it was wonderful to see the looks on the faces of our residents. They just light up when the donkeys come to visit.”
And this one, from a special school that we will be visiting regularly;
“The way your staff spoke to our students, making sure that no one was left out, and communicating so sensitively. It was just brilliant.”
We are very proud of what we do and cannot thank our amazing volunteer team enough. We will be posting while we are “off” but we may not be as responsive as usual. Have a great week everyone. Xxx
Nell Pascoe awww ...
A well deserved rest for you all 👍🏻👏 XXX
Hope you all have a wonderful break and a good rest!
Enjoy your well deserved break.🥰
A well deserved break, have a lovely day x ❤❤
Hope you all enjoy your break. It is well deserved. xx
Amazing that’s what you all are 💕
Those of you with long memories may remember the old Vulcan mind meld, from Star Trek……… Well, we have had a bit of an issue with trans-species mind melding this morning. Head of Poo fixed the sticky wheel nuts last night, the spare is on the lorry, the poorly wheel is heading off for a new tyre, the lorry will be ready to roll again. But then, Gordon requested an innocent looking cuddle, but leaned in for a mind meld. Gordon is now heading off to work with spanners between his teeth, while Mr Drake is hanging around the fridge yowling for milk……… Help!
Busso of course thinks it is hilarious 😆🤣😂
Gordon cracks me up. Have a great day everyone ❤️
Have a great friday everyone x ❤
They have become 'one'!
Just love these photos 🐕🐾🐱x so glad lorry is on the mend for you xx 💕💕
Thank you so much for your visit this week. The home is still buzzing. I’ll get piccies across to you very soon x
Well here we are on another Thoughtful Thursday……. Sometimes things work out right and sometimes you are faced with challenges. Our lovely lorry has a flat tire. Head of Poo, is a multi talented individual, and when he is not picking poo up, he runs his own garage business, specialising in Alfa Romeos, and other classic cars. He brought home some tools last night, I got on YouTube to find out where the spare is and how to get it out…… well, a good hour later we had the spare on the ground, a broken plastic knob, a seized wheel nut, a seized spare wheel carrying mechanism, much swearing and a very late tea. But are we down? Nope. The timing for once is in our favour….. we have a planned week off next week, no visits, phewww, so we have plenty of time to get it fixed. And thanks to the generous support from Wordwall and The National Lottery Community Fund we have our pickup and trailer as alternative transportation fro the donks for exactly these sort of occasions. So our thoughts today are with Richard, our very own super-mechanic, who has a cunning plan to get the lorry sorted, and with our funders and supporters, who help us keep on the road, whatever challenges we face.
We hope you have supporters in your corner this Thoughtful Thursday. Xxx
Have a lovely day x ❤🥰
Oh no! Poor you guys! Praying Richard's cunning plan works out brilliantly 🤗
Beautiful pictures have a great day love xxx 💖💖💖💖
Try and get some me Donk time too next week.
Have a lovely week off.❤
Enjoy your week off xx
Fingers crossed for the plan! Have a lovely, sunny week off xx😘😘
Oh no hope the cunning plan works x have a lovely rest and relaxing time next week you certainly deserve it x Happy Thursday xx 💕🌞😎💕
Fingers crossed for the success of the cunning plan and a well deserved week off xxx
What a hero. He deserves a nap with Gordon on his lap I reckon. Hope you get things sorted soon. Love to you all from the Fens. Sometimes a few things go wrong at once but if we persevere we reach easier times, always. x
I can see Head of Poo is a kick ass sought a guy! Mess with him at your peril!
Wow! Was this really two years ago? Huge thanks to the whole team for springing such an amazing surprise. Still makes me tear up to think of it. Xxx
💟💟💟
Unbelievable where the time has gone... but wow what you've achieved in those two years is amazing... even through Covid's ups and downs. xx
Grateful thanks going out today to LJ Copywriting for including Minidonks in their campaign to be kind in 30 ways in 30 days. They have donated £25 which will go towards our winter hay and straw bills. Here are the donks sampling their meals on wheels 😋😉😜 Don't worry - they don't get to eat it a bale at a time!
What a lovely idea.
❤❤
Help needed! A member of the Minidonk team is broken…… Mr B, Busso, Mr Smooth, Head Of Security, is not himself! 🤣🤣🤣 Those of you who know him will know that he is always alert, on it, on the lookout for any security issues arising at Minidonk HQ…… but after 4 years of being with us, he is slacking on the job!
He came to us as a skinny, scared rescue dog. He had been used for hunting in Spain and was terrified of so many things, including us and the donkeys. 4 years on, he is a different dog. He is still wary of strangers but the Minidonk volunteers have been a huge part of his rehabilitation, bringing sneaky snacks and cuddles. He now greets his friends with wags and cuddles.
Do any of you have a super-relaxed member of the family? Show us your pics! Xxx
This is Jazz, sadly we lost him a year ago but his photos live on. One day I woke to find the little devil not on the bed but inside the bed next to me. 😂
He is gorgeous. 😍
Alfie
Ruby
Basil Also loves the "legs in the air like you just don't care" position too
This is Molly who is a rescue dog from Romania, we don’t know her story but she has now been with us since February. As you see she has somewhat settled in!
Ralph having a snooze. He is now coming up to 5. Defo his favourite thing to do now is snore!
My nacho always very chilled !
Maybe Busso needs some treats baked from Maude’s cookbook? Our doggy friends loved them!
Jet, on high alert. Burglars my pass by undisturbed, but the first person to open the fridge door will have an instant companion! 😆
Max, ready for rat catching😆
This is Henry, he is clearly broken…..
Mali frequently sleeps like this 🤦♀️
Zack used to be a very chilled out little hound. Lost him a year ago but miss him every day - my shadow used to be westie shaped!
This is Angus our lovable pain in the bum, toy poodle. He’s sleeping on duty.
My chinchilla relaxing in the hammock!
Here is his face 😁
This is our Nero in one of his favourite poses x think he has the same idea as your Mr Busso x don’t you just love them! x Happy Tuesday to you all x💝🐕💝🐕💝
My office 'help'....
this was rosie, my floof
Joanie thinks dreaming about hunting is preferable to going out and doing it.
Angus on guard duty…
Can you believe it’s the 20th September!?! Where is this year going? Luckily, Maude keeps us on the case, and she has made the 100 club draw for us. Congratulations to the winners!
As you can see, she is rocking her little chef’s outfit, about to go and browse through her very own cook book, Maude’s Makes and Bakes, which can be purchased via our website, www.Minidonks.org.uk
Have a great week!
Russet 'Maude' Magic
Unfortunately, MAUDE is currently sold out, please mail sponsor@minidonks.org.uk if you would like to pre-order.
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