Final run from Sylvia’s barn at Blockley • In 14 active carts • 62 left
Sylvia's Alpaca Nesting Heart
Sylvia's Alpaca Nesting Heart
Dispatched within 2–3 days
30-day money-back guarantee
Free UK delivery with tracking
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Sylvia's Alpaca Nesting Heart
“A jackdaw landed on the back of one of our alpacas and started pulling fleece straight off him. Came back every morning for a fortnight. The birds worked it out long before I did — I only noticed what they had been telling me all along.”
Alpaca fibre is hollow through the centre, so it traps far more warmth than solid fibre. A nest lined with it holds heat through a cold Cotswold night in March — which is exactly what eggs and new chicks need.
Unlike sheep’s wool, alpaca fleece carries no lanolin. Nothing greasy, nothing to irritate. Soft and clean against a chick’s skin from its first day out of the shell.
Synthetic thread holds a loop and tightens over time. Alpaca fibre compresses and breaks down inside the nest instead — no loops, no rigid strands, no entanglement risk.
Alpaca fibre repels moisture on its own. A wet British spring runs off rather than soaking in, so the lining stays dry instead of turning into a cold mat underneath the chicks.
The heart is a mesh frame, not a disposable. When the birds strip it bare — and they will — push fresh fleece, raw wool or pet brushings back through the hexagons and hang it up again. Season after season.
The mesh openings are wide enough that a goldfinch or a wren can get a proper grip and pull a strand free, tight enough that one gusty night doesn’t empty the whole heart across the garden.
“Fibre entanglement is something we see every single spring. Chicks come in with synthetic thread wound around a leg or a throat, and almost always it has come from nesting material a parent bird collected in a nearby garden. Natural fibre such as alpaca fleece compresses and breaks down safely. Synthetic fibre does neither. Our earliest nest-builders start in February, so putting soft natural fibre out over the winter is one of the simplest things a household can do.”
Avian Ecologist & Wildlife Rehabilitator · Windrush Valley Wildlife Care, Northleach, Gloucestershire- Fleece from one named herd. Eleven alpacas at Blockley, shorn in June 2026. Not a blended bale from three countries.
- Inner fleece only, four colours. Sylvia sorts out the coarse guard hair by hand and packs only soft inner fibre — dark brown, cream, caramel and charcoal, from four different animals.
- Hand-cut frames. Gordon cuts and shapes every one from offcuts of rabbit netting in the barn. Slight differences in shape are the point, not a fault.
- Nothing added. No dye, no scent, no treatment. Washed, dried, packed. That’s the whole process.
- Built to stay out. The frame lives outdoors year-round and weathers to a soft grey. Refill it each spring.
Hang it out. If no bird has touched it and you’re not glad you bought it, email us within 30 days and we’ll sort it out — no forms, no posting it back at your expense.
June’s clip was the final shearing of the Wintle herd. Every heart still listed is made from that fleece — when it’s gone there is no next season to make more from. Because each frame is cut and shaped by hand, expect small differences in outline and in how far the fleece sits proud of the mesh. The colour blocks fall differently on every heart too, because they come off different animals. That’s what handmade looks like.
The Last Clip
The Last Clip
A note from the barn at Blockley:
Sylvia Wintle spent thirty-eight years as a district nurse across the north Cotswolds. She and Gordon have kept alpacas on four acres here since 2006 — eleven of them. In the spring of 2019 she watched a jackdaw land on the back of one of the brown wethers and pull the fleece straight off him, then carry it up to the chimney stack. It came back every morning for a fortnight. Gordon cut her a heart out of a roll of rabbit netting so the birds would stop climbing on the alpacas. It came out crooked and he never straightened it; it still hangs in the same damson tree.
They are moving down into the village after Christmas, closer to their daughter at Cheltenham. Forty-six years of kneeling on stone have caught up with Gordon’s knees and four acres has become too much. The eleven alpacas go to a friend’s place over at Winchcombe. June’s clip was the last one — every heart still listed is made from that fleece, and there is no next season to make more from.
Free UK Delivery
Free UK Delivery
Free delivery across the United Kingdom
- Delivery time: 3–5 working days
- Every heart is packed by hand
- Approx. 30 × 28 × 8 cm, hanging chain fitted
- Hand-cut galvanised wire mesh frame, packed with raw undyed alpaca fleece in four natural colours — refillable through the mesh, season after season
- Lives outdoors year-round and weathers to a soft grey
- 30-day money-back guarantee — just email info@backroad-goods.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here’s how to reach us.
Got a question? Here’s how to reach us.
Email us any time at info@backroad-goods.com. We answer Monday–Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday 10am–3pm. Whether it is about your order, where to hang it, or which birds to watch for — a real person writes back.
Can I return it if it’s not for me?
Can I return it if it’s not for me?
Of course. 30-day money-back guarantee. Hang it out, live with it a week, and if it is not right, email info@backroad-goods.com within 30 days for a full refund. No questions, and UK delivery is free.
How is it made?
How is it made?
Gordon cuts every frame by hand from offcuts of rabbit netting in the barn — freehand, no press, about four minutes a heart. Sylvia then sorts the coarse guard hair out of the fleece and packs only the soft inner fibre through the hexagons, four natural colours to a heart, each one off a different animal in their herd. The fleece is washed, dried and packed — no dye, no scent, no treatment. Because every frame is cut by hand, the outlines differ slightly and the colour blocks fall differently on each one. That is the product, not a fault.