Avon Cat Rescue is set in the grounds of a lovely old house in the village of Welford-on-Avon. We are 4 miles west of Stratford-upon-Avon.
On entering the double wooden gates that give access to the Rescue you are often greeted by one of the 8 residents who roam freely in the grounds. Rosie (seen below) is one of these cats. She loves to rub around your legs and occasionally accepts a stroke.
The remainder of the cats at the Rescue, there are about 100 in total, are housed in groups in large pens or, if waiting for a new home, in individual pens. These pens are grouped around what used to be a tennis court. The grounds, being mature, have many lovely old trees, wild areas and a profusion of birds, despite the cats.
Of the cats at the Rescue over 55 are permanent being cats that for whatever reason have not found homes. These permanent cats are known as our pensioners and live in groups in large pens. To help support these cats we run a sponsorship scheme. Details of this can be found on the Sponsorship page.
Cats can be seen, if you are lucky, during our bazaars or at other times by appointment only. Dates when we have an event at the Rescue can be found on our Events Diary page.
On entering the area taken over by the cat pens you go into an area of tranquillity which belies the hard work that goes into looking after, on average, 100 cats.
There are 9 large cat pens and 3 small pens housing our resident cats as well as 4 purpose built homing pens that have 19 spaces, with runs, for the cat or groups of cats waiting for another chance.
NEW CORSE LAWN
The original Corse Lawn and May Trees was one big shed with a dividing wall. This was built when we had to move cats out of a garden shed taken over by a neighbour. Neither initially had a run but these were added later.
Corse Lawn is named after a village near Tewkesbury from where we had 20 cats from a lady who had been evicted.
In 2004 New Corse Lawn was built as a separate building and was made possible by legacies from 2 of our Supporters.
MAY TREES
May Trees gets its name from being under the May Tree. Until 2004 it was a large shed divided into two of which the cats in Corse Lawn had the other half.
Corse lawn was rebuilt in the summer of 2004, leaving May Trees as a separate unit.
Initially neither May Trees or Corse Lawn had a run but these were added later.
In 2007 an extended run was added to the original allowing us to have a group of 5 cats homed here. This was made possible by the generousity of 5 of our supporters.
TV
The original shed known as TV arrived along with Miss Trowton in the late 1970’s. It was home for her 20 cats. It got its name from being called Trowtonville that was shortened to TV. As Miss Trowton’s cats gradually moved out and joined her in a caravan it was commandeered for some rescued strays.
In 2002 the house and run was completely rebuilt.
BRAMBLES
This house and run was purpose built in the spring of 2002 and paid for by our Supporters. All the cats in here are black—two of which can be seen sitting on the roof of the house.
GARDEN RUN
This large run and house was purpose built in 2002 and paid for by a legacy left to us.
Two cats can be seen sitting on the roof of the house. The one on the right is Tweeny.
WILDMOOR & HAYTOR
Wildmoor (picture above) was one of the first pens to be built. It got its name because it housed all the wildcats. It was built in the 1970’s and was paid for by Miss Goode’s father. The original shed was donated and filled with about 14 cats.
The present house, within the run, was paid for by one of our Supporters and cost nearly £1,000.
Haytor (picture below) was full of hay and was where the farm cats lived.
Both runs were replaced in the spring of 1999 at a cost of £4,000.
Both these names came from the names of 2 hotels in Stratford-upon-Avon
PEBBLES
Pebbles was built in the late spring of 2001. It replaced Long Kennel which was a dog kennel with a run built over it. It was paid for by our Supporters. Tabitha, a tabby, can just be seen.
In 2006 a large new run was added, built by a supporter and paid for by 2 supporters in memory of their own dear cat Jaz.
COMPOUND
This was originally a kitten compound. All the kittens being in together did not work and enteritis became a problem.
Compound later became a pen for our pensioners. Extensive repairs had to be carried out in late 1995.
In 2008 it is being totally replaced(picture below). This has been made possible due to a very kind supporter doing the work for free and a legacy we have received.
THE SNUG
This was donated by one of our volunteer helpers. It was built in 1996 to house a group of feral and it was in memory of her own dear cat.
It is now used by pensioners who spend most of their day in the garden.
BROWNIE
Brownie was a dog kennel given to the Rescue when Brownie the dog died. At first it was used with no run, than a small run was added and later a much larger one. This was done some while ago and even then cost £300.
Some of the cats that are free in the garden sleep in here. Jim has certainly made it his overnight accommodation and can often be seen in or around Brownie. Jim can be seen in the foreground.
Both Hollies and Willows have been made possible by the generousity of our friends and supporters who over a 21 month period raised £30,000 for us to complete this project. We are deeply grateful to everyone for their help and support.
HOLLIES
Hollies(picture on the left) was built in 2003 after we launched an appeal to replace our Homing pens. It has 7 individual pens with runs.
We are grateful to everyone who contributed to this project.
WILLOWS
Willows is also a new block containing 8 pens of which 2 are double size for family groups. It replaced the original ‘Willows’ that had 10 compartments and had been designed and paid for by Miss Goode.
This building was completed in the Spring of 2005. It was in January 2005 when we raised the final money to complete this major project. Without our Supporters this would not have been possible. Thank you.
The first picture shows the corridor at the rear where we have access to the houses. The second picture is of the run of one of the large family pens in Willows
Q
Q as it was first known stood for quarantine. It consisted of 5 quarantine boxes meant for short-term use. When it was found that they were being used for longer, 3 were removed and the remaining 2 each had a small run. They were unheated and could not often be used in winter so were mainly used for temporary cats that were catchable.
As these pens were needed more and more all year round, they were replaced in the Spring of 2000 by the one in the picture above that have both a run and heating. Our Supporters paid for this rebuilding.
KITTENRY
Kittenry was built from scratch by a retired teacher in memory of his cat Purrables. It was designed to give each compartment 2 levels so that a mother cat could have a rest away from her kittens. There are 4 compartments.
The compartments have now been removed and it is used as a store.
We hope you have enjoyed a tour round Avon Cat Rescue. If there is any way you think you might be able to support us please get in touch. Details can be found on our Contacts page
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