About

Why Skyrack? The word is derived from the Old English for Shire Oak, and was once the name for the area (known as a wapentake) centred on Headingley, Leeds, where the Shire Oak grew for over a thousand years. The old tree was finally removed in 1941, but the name remains.

Keeping Angora rabbits is ideal for those who love both rabbits and crafts. I have kept rabbits since childhood, and had an interest in crafts since the age of 7, when I spent one and a half years in hospital. It was then I learned to knit, crochet, embroider and sew. I learned to spindle spin when I was 12, following instructions in the Girl Guide Handbook, my father making my first spindle from a stacking wooden toy. (I still have that spindle, which produces wool fine enough for Shetland Lace.) My Shetland sheepdog provided my first wool for spinning.

I acquired my first Angora rabbit in 1997, when I had a settled lifestyle and a garden large enough for their runs, and joined both the National Angora Club and the British Rabbit Council. Although I do not exhibit due to time constraints, I was very proud to be involved in the standardisation of the Lilac Angora colour at the London show in 2014, when 3 of the 6 rabbits taken for the judges’ approval were Skyrack Lilacs.