About Us
  
                                   

The 'jhardufae' prefix, under which we breed, loosely means, in Prussian, 'Mystical Fairy'- and we hope this gives an indication of the beauty and mystery of the Norwegian Forest Cat. They are often referred to in Norway as woodland fairies because of their tendency to appear through the trees and seemingly silently disappear.

We live in North Yorkshire on the outskirts of a small village called Escrick, half way between York and Selby. It is a nice, rural location - perfect for our cats to look out onto the fields. We also share our home with with two elderly ladies - Kimba and Bridie, and Sax and India, our two 'youngsters', the German Shepherd Dogs.

'We' are Mark and Kate,and Mark's son Ryan, who is 15, and have been breeding Norwegian Forest Cats for almost 10 years.
   
 

Grunt, our oldest dog, sadly died in November 2006, after suffering a stroke. We nursed him at home for the weekend following his stroke but had to let him be gently put to rest on the Monday morning.

Much missed.

 
 
               
                           
Kimba is a little rescue dog - she is now around 18 years of age, and came to us 15 years ago from a home where she was not really wanted nor cared for. She was not house trained and was very badly behaved! She is very young in this picture taken by Mark - it was snapped jsut after a very long and muddy walk - but I love it because it just reflects her personality so clearly - She has always been a fun-loving dog, always happy and lively. She is far quieter now in her twilight years.

      
                                             
                                       
              Little Bridie came to us from Scotland when she came to the close of her 'breeding career'. She is a sweet little dog who once loved to retrieve her dummy and play ball. She is around 14 years of age and is quite deaf now and almost blind in both eyes - not a morsel of food is ever around though that she does not spot!    
                                       
                                             

Sax and Indi are our two German Shepherd Dogs - we decided to have another GSD after suddenly losing our previous Shepherd, Rostam,at Christmas 8 years ago. We chose Sax, a long-coated male, and he was shortly followed by Indi, a short-coated bitch. Both dogs have lovely natures and are very intelligent - they also have huge reserves of stamina and need lots of excercise! They are pictured here Easter 2008, and, below, as babies.
           
                         
 
 
     
         

I also run a small Cat Rescue from home - we have separate pens with runs for our Rescue cats and kittens in the front garden. We are self-funding and rely on donations to continue our work. We will eventually dedicate a page of this site to rescue work.


             
      Updated 23rd March 2008