Ashtonelle Alpacas

04/09/2026

A little sunshine and several of the cria - the perfect accompaniment to this morning’s poo-picking rounds.

After a distinctly grey and soggy week, it was lovely to see blue skies, sunshine and the cria making the most of it — grazing, resting, playing, pronking and generally being their adorable selves.

A few moments from this morning’s rounds

30/08/2026

Lickety Split has discovered the new carrot hanging on the fence… and naturally, it requires a very thorough investigation. A little playing and a lot of nibbling.

Mum Dolly Daydream is keeping a very close eye on proceedings — and is just as curious herself!

Two alpacas. One carrot. Much excitement

29/08/2026

Here we are at Inspiring Yarns in Newtownards for the wee Saturday yarn Show. Come along and say hi! And have a squish of our latest yarns.

27/08/2026

A wee Saturday Yarn Show

We’re really pleased to be taking some of our new natural-colour yarns, alongside our hand-dyed colourways, to the Wee Saturday Yarn Show at Inspiring Yarns this Saturday!

We’ll be there with our lovely friends at Herbarium Dyeworks and Inspiring Yarns, so there’ll be plenty of gorgeous, local yarns and colour to tempt the fingers — and the imagination.

Our natural shades are spun from our own alpaca fleeces, celebrating all those beautiful colours that nature has already done so well. Alongside them, our hand-dyed yarns bring a whole different palette of colour and possibilities.

If you’re a knitter, crocheter, spinner, yarn fondler, or simply someone who appreciates beautiful natural fibres, come along for a browse and a chat.

We’d love to see you there!

24/08/2026

When bedtime is calling… but you’ve still got one last race, a few pronks and plenty of zoomies left in you!

23/08/2026

A busy afternoon winding our beautiful 2026 yarn into skeins. Deliciously soft, wonderfully luxurious and in the most gorgeous natural shades. Grown and processed locally, here in Northern Ireland. With thanks as always to

15/08/2026

We’re delighted to be joining our friends at Yarns and for a little yarny get-together!

Come along for a lovely day of yarn, colour, alpaca fibre and plenty of inspiration, all brought together by some wonderful local businesses.

We were very disappointed to learn that a local yarn show normally held at the end of August had been postponed to March 2027!

Like many of the small businesses that usually take a stall at this show we were really disappointed by this decision. We all need to source and invest in stock upfront and yarn dyeing is also something that takes considerable thought & time to prepare. Like many of our fellow small businesses we had been planning for this event for some time. I’m sure a lot of customers who usually attend have been disappointed too!

So what to do? Well we have got together with a couple of our yarn friends and decided to have a wee yarn show, gathering some of your favourites from the Ards Peninsula under one roof for a day!

Come along and join Ashtonelle Alpacas & Debbie Orr | Natural dyer pop ups Inspiring Yarns Newtownards shop on Saturday 29th August from 10am to 4pm. More details coming soon!

HandDyedYarn

12/08/2026

Somehow, I never quite got around to sharing this — which is a little embarrassing because it’s not every day that Ashtonelle Alpacas makes the cover of the British Alpaca Society magazine!

The summer issue features an article about Ashtonelle, from our animals and their beautiful fibre to the yarns and other things we create from it.

Seeing Ashtonelle on the cover was a very special moment. I’m hugely grateful to the and the magazine for choosing one of our photos for the cover.

I did intend to share this much sooner… but there was yarn to sort, festivals to prepare for, and a rather eventful birthing season! And somehow mid August arrived before I blinked.

So, better late than never — here’s a snippet!

03/08/2026

Meet Lottie… the final cria of 2026.

Lottie decided to make a memorable entrance by arriving breech. She’s also needed a little extra care during her first few days, but she’s a determined little girl with the sweetest nature. Hopefully from here on in life becomes much less eventful!

With Lottie’s arrival, another birthing season comes to an end. My thanks to Marie and everyone from for their help and support.

This has been one of the toughest seasons since Ashtonelle Alpacas began. There have been moments of sheer joy, moments of exhaustion, and moments when things haven’t gone according to plan. Every birth reminds me that no matter how many years you’ve been doing this, nature is always in charge.

This year we’ve welcomed 10 beautiful cria – 6 boys and 4 girls. Remarkably, that’s the 12th year in a row that the boys have outnumbered the girls.

And to little Lottie… welcome to the world. You may have kept us on our toes, but you couldn’t be more welcome.