Visitors to Essex’ most popular tourist attraction, Old Macdonald’s Farm in Brentwood, are welcomed at the gate by 4 beautiful ladies, all of whom have 4 legs and who are all Miniature Shetland Ponies. These are Pollyanna, 16, Cleopatra, 12, Lucky, 7 and Philippa who is 3. However fascinating and friendly as these lovely horses are, the story of the man who bred and raised them is even more interesting.
Also, stop press (or the internet equivalent) as we have two even newer friends for you to see, baby Meerkat pups just born and almost ready to come out into the world, but who can be viewed in the mini house in their enclosure with their proud mother! Now read on for the story of the Shetland Ponies.
Louis De Bae, a Belgian citizen found himself trapped in his country in 1941 when the Nazi invasion did not appeal to him, so he literally got on his bike and cycled through France into Spain where he was taken prisoner by the Spanish authorities and placed in a concentration camp. He discovered that British prisoners were being returned home whereas other country nationals were not, so despite the small set back of not speaking any English claimed he was from England, and was taken to Lisbon where the British Consulate sent him to Britain where he stayed for the rest of his life.
After his marriage in 1952 he started to breed budgies, partly as a hobby and partly to sell, and then moved to ponies in 1966, again partly for fun and partly as a business. At one stage his herd had reached 30 of these affable and adorable creatures at his home in Maidenhead, Kent.
He continued with this very successful business for many years but by the time of his sad death in February of this year he was just keeping 4 ponies who he loved, three of which he had bred and raised himself and one which he had purchased. His son Michel then had to look around and find a home of which his father would have approved, and selected Old Macdonald’s Farm in Weald Road, Brentwood, as a place where the 4 could remain and be well cared for as well as admired and appreciated. Now they take pride of place in the main entrance, petted and patted by everyone who comes in.
So these four ponies are in Essex thanks to an adventure that started in war torn Europe in 1941, and have reached the final leg of a long and ultimately happy journey by a very enterprising man aided by the helpful way in which the British Consulate in Lisbon kindly overlooked the small question of the Englishman who could not speak a word of English, but who was brought to safety in Britain during the war!
Arrived there at eleven when we got our Treasure Trail Guide and off we went braving the wind the rain the hail sleet and snow (well got to make it sound good) then hours later and totally exhausted (well I was) we stopped at the restaurant where I tucked into the bacon burger and chips (yummy) realising I should have done the treasure hunt after and not before the bacon burger. Then checked on the otters to see how they were ….they were in hiding but I waited and watched for the tell tale bubbles in the water (now that could be wind but I came to my senses) so went off in to the ball area where my wife and daughter fired the balls at each other. I was resting my bacon burger by now, but people outside were caught in the sudden monsoon. Then we went on the roller coaster pulled on by my daughter (didn’t need much pulling) followed by the wife and had a good laugh. Said to Julie-Anne why don’t you go down the big slide so she did what the others were doing jumped into the air and started to slide down. The only thing was she suddenly was standing up and sort of running before she fell forwards (heard her laughing her head off, what a relief so went to collect our bounty from the treasure hunt. I didn’t tell you this but we did 2, one for my daughter and one for me .I was disappointed I only got 1 bag whilst my daughter got 2 bags of money – what an injustice I say (boo boo) any way we left feeling we could have stayed longer but we had to get back to Luton so that my wife’s son could pick up stuff he left at our house before he went to Turkey. Alright for some! Anyway thanks again for a great day and hope to be back soon.