Jojo & Nick

Jojo and Nick. Jojo is a white woman with light purple hair. Nick is a white man with a beard and glasses. They are wearing hiking clothes and are both smiling at the camera.
 

The Field Shelter is run by Jojo and Nick, collectively we have been vegan for 25 years. Jojo takes care of the day to day running of The Field Shelter guesthouse and sanctuary, and Nick has a full time job alongside his Field Shelter duties. Jojo started out doing street activism before developing a pro-intersectional approach to veganism, animal rights, and social justice. Nick has always been a cat whisperer but realised that this skill translated to other animals after volunteering at a farm sanctuary. We are both incredibly motivated by our goal of rescuing some of the most vulnerable animals.

Our journey

Jojo and Cale. Jojo is a white tattooed woman with blue hair. Cale is a black and white cow. They are siting together and Jojo is stroking Cale under his chin.
 

After living in Brighton for 10+ years we both decided that it was time for a change and left the city to explore the world. We wanted to volunteer as part of this experience and during the 3 years we spent on the road we volunteered with many different rescues and projects but our time at Farm Animal Rescue in Australia was the most inspirational. 

Post travel we knew that we wouldn’t be able to go back to “normal life” and we recognised that we could use our privilege, skills, and drive to rescue animals. We already thought that we wanted to move to the Scottish countryside and open a rescue for farmed animals before we went to Australia but after dipping our toes in the water at Farm Animal Rescue we knew that we were on the right track.

We want to do something good for the world whilst we’re here and to leave something that will continue once we’re gone.

the space

A landscape photo of the field with the field shelter in the distance. There are trees along the fence line at the back of the image and the foreground is hummocky. To the right hand side is an old dry-stone structure
 

We were able to buy an old farm that hadn’t been used for decades, some of the farm buildings are intact but many are in a state of disrepair. We’re currently working on repairing, renovating, or removing these dangerous buildings. We’ve planted some trees and are working towards growing our own food as well as nurturing plants that help bees and wildlife thrive. We’re also learning the skills we will need to look after the land in the future.

We believe that small sustainable sanctuaries are the future. We admire people who are making large sanctuaries work but for us relying on donations only would be too risky. We decided to use our experiences as travellers and Jojo’s experience reviewing vegan businesses for her blog as well as for vegan travel websites and magazines to start the guesthouse. Whilst we were travelling we always dreamt of being able to visit a beautiful spot where we could meet rescued animals and eat delicious vegan food so this has always been an integral part of The Field Shelter’s objective. 

We can’t wait to see how our vision flourishes and we hope that you’ll come along on the journey. You can follow us on social media or sign up to join our mailing list below.