Ellie joined us in August having completed two years' of animal management training at Hadlow College. She is confident with all small animal species having her own menagerie at home: 3 dogs, 1 cat, 8 rabbits and a coup of chickens!
Izabel has changed career from primary teaching assistant to working with animals, inspired by her earlier experience of being a meercat keeper at the Hop Farm. Having studied Pyschology and Sociology she is particularly interested in the people side of the veterinary and the care of animals especially after surgery.
Abi has just joined us from the Big Cat Sanctuary. A lover of cats (and big dogs!), she is looking forward to learning more about veterinary nursing. At home she has a cat and a chameleon.

Also, you may have spotted we are doing a bit of building work over in Pembury. We are pleased to say that work has finally started on the first phase of our building project which will eventually mean that we will be able to carry out a range of surgical procedures in Pembury as well as in Southborough. We’ll keep you updated as work progresses.

In other exciting family news – vet Hannah is now mum to a gorgeous baby boy; both are doing well. Also, at the end of the summer we were all very excited to attend the long awaited wedding of receptionist Paige to her fiance, George. Wishing them both lots of love and happiness for the future.

Lydia had another successful summer, showing her heifers at the Edenbridge and Oxted show. She was awarded the prestigious award of ‘champion young handler’ as well as gaining 1st, 4th and 5th prizes for her breeds.

You may have noticed a little change of colour scheme to brighten up the waiting area at Southborough. We are still working on our re-decoration programme; never an easy feat given our long opening hours and busy lives but we’re gradually getting there!

Oli has joined our vet team to help us out over the summer months. Oli graduated from Cambridge vet school in 2017 and has worked in mixed animal and large animal practice since then. After her last job she took a few months off to travel and volunteer with street dogs in Latin America. Oli is very interested in sustainability, especially within veterinary medicine and agriculture. Outside of work she loves singing, reading and travelling.

Huge congratulations to vet Sarah and her husband Tom on the birth of their little boy at the end of May – the latest addition to the Dacre House family! At the time of writing we await news from vet Hannah who has just gone on maternity leave.

Finally, it is definitely worth saying that in the current national shortage of vets, we are truly blessed to be well staffed with such an incredible, hard-working and well-qualified team.

You may have spotted nurse Heather back at work, balancing life as mum and veterinary nurse. It’s wonderful to have her back on the team. Those of you who follow us on Facebook may have seen Lydia's dairy calf awards last summer. She was very excited recently to appear on 'The Farmers' Country Showdown' for her involvement in the Edenbridge and Oxted Agricultural Show. You can still catch her on BBC iplayer (episode 7)! Lastly, those of you who remember Deanna who worked with us at Dacre House for many years will be pleased to hear that she and her husband have just had a baby girl! What a lovely start to 2023.