Animals have always been a very important part of Nadine and Ludovic's life. 30 June 2001, they have 6 cats, 3 dogs, 1 ferret, 4 exotic finches, 1 crow, 30 ducks, 2 geese, 6 chickens, 4 rabbits and 130 red deer. That is why one day they bought a small farm (in Belgium everything is small...) and transformed it into ... an applefarm (about 10,000 apple trees). At that time, many British deer-farms went bankrupt. The euphoria of the early days was long gone and even those who managed to survive had a hard time. So, no deer-farm for the time being ... During winter, Ludovic worked as a game and venison dealer and again ended up in Great-Britain, where he bought deer carcasses for the continental market from local dealers and deer-farms. [ Ludovic at a client's premises: ready to unload some deer-carcasses from the UK. ] Some years later, the fruit market collapsed, while the deer-farms seemed to be doing good business. For Nadine and Ludovic this was 'now or never' : the apple trees were cut and the first hinds were imported ... It all seems simple now, but it was a period of both joy and sorrow, a story with a laugh and a tear. Especially Nadine found it difficult to cope with the loss of the orchard. But when the first calves were born, she beamed with joy. For donkey's years she had loved "all creatures great and small". Deserted animals had always been given a second chance in her loving care. From now on, there would also be a red deer calf once in a while ! A continental deer-farm was born ! [ left - patiently feeding orphaned bunnies. ] [ right - another survivor ] [ Nadine with Bijou, one of the calves that found a second mother in her. ] BACK...