Buildings for animals

Animals are part of the Quantock way of life. So when you explore the hills you will spot all sorts of buildings and shelters or animals.

Do you know what any of these are? Maybe you’ve seen them yourself? Click to find out if you were right!

  • A multi-purpose Quantock field shelter near Hawkridge . Simple but effective.
  • A splendid Victorian, architect designed henhouse in East Quantoxhead Rectory garden. It is so special that it is listed as a historic building! It is raised up to keepthe hens safe from rats.
  • A more ordinary, moveable, wooden hen coop at Durborough Farm. The hens are being admired by a group of schoolchildren.
  • Cows in an 18th century shelter shed in East Quantoxhead
  • Traditional Quantock shelter sheds sometimes have pillar-shaped stone supports like this one in Holford.
  • This is the oldest animal building in East Quantoxhead. It was built in the 1500s and the door frame is still held together by wooden pegs. Once upon a time it made a very cosy cattle byre. Now it is a garden shed.
  • …and this is what a modern cow shed looks like inside! This is at Pepperhill Farm
  • This is the sheep-shearing shed at Durborough Farm. The fleeces can be store here. It is also a useful shelter for any sheep that need to be kept apart from the others.
  • Sheep need to be somewhere warm and safe at lambing time. They don’t mind what the walls are made of! These temporary pens are inside a bigger barn. Meet Barbara the Sheep
  • When you are a tiny, new born orphan lamb, the best shelter is a cardboard box next to a lovely warm cooking range!
  • The Exmoor ponies on Quantock Common don’t need shelters. But every year they are rounded up and sent through this wooden ‘crush’ so they can be checked one at a time. Here some children are demonstrating how it works! More about Quantock ponies
  • Other breeds of horse aren’t so tough. This foal is standing in front of a new wooden shelter.
  • This is a specially built training paddock and shelter for horses near West Bagborough.
  • A stable block at Crowcombe House. The upper floor is a hayloft and the big doors show where the coach went. Before motor travel, all country estates had large stable blocks. Sometimes they converted them later into garages, houses or flats.
  • And here is the smallest animal shelter on the list, a dormouse-house and the Quantock volunteers who put it up! Meet Deirdre Dormouse