Jacob’s Ridge Animal Sanctuary in Spain

I just recently spent a week volunteering at Jacob’s Ridge animal sanctuary in Spain, and what a week it was. Andrew and I booked our trip based on our friend Adrian’s recommendation, who visited the sanctuary a couple years back. So without too many expectations, we headed out to the Ridge to help out with the animals for the week. As you can imagine, I ended up taking a LOT of photos, so I’m going to break this review down into three sections: the ridge, the food, and last but obviously not least, the animals.

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The Ridge

Named after a beautiful bay horse, Jacob’s Ridge is located in Mula, Murcia, and is set in a gorgeous valley surrounded by hills. The ridge is run by ultimate hosts Julian and Rachael, with the help of two semi-permanent volunteers who are in turn helped out by the temporary volunteers (ie us) who primarily visit during the summer months.

The cost for the week is £480 per person, and this includes all your meals and accommodation in a nice canvas tent. In return, they ask for a few hours of help with the animals every day. The week we were there were two full-time volunteers (Ellie and Toni), three of us, plus 2 other girls volunteering.

Each day was a bit different, but typically would start with a dog walk at 7:30am, feeding and watering all the animals, breakfast, morning chore (usually mucking out one of the pens), midday watering, taking dogs down to the river, lunch (around 2 or 3pm), followed by siesta / free time until about 7pm. At 7, the evening chores begin – starting with another dog walk, watering and feeding. You are not expected to do everything, but we tried to help out as much as possible. So for example, I would usually do the morning dog walk, but skip the evening dog walk to go help start the feed. The domestic chores were also divided between the temporary volunteers – things like feeding the puppies, doing dishes, tidying the lounge, etc.

In addition to work, there are also extracurricular activities you can do – including swimming in the pool (once the wasps are cleaned out!), cliff jumping at a nearby lake and kayaking down the Murcia river. We didn’t get around to cliff jumping, but we did do the kayaking and it was SO much fun. You’re basically on the river for around 3 hours with a lunch break in the middle (we ate peanut butter, banana and crisp sandwiches lol). It was beautiful and the water was refreshing on such a hot day (just ask Andrew – he fell in twice haha).

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The food

Jacob’s Ridge serves up 100% vegan food to the volunteers, and what food it is. For breakfast you fend for yourself (there’s plenty of stuff to choose from in the common area), and lunch and dinner are both cooked by a full-time volunteer (hi Ellie!) or by Rachael and Julian on the volunteer’s days off. The food was all served at a communal table next to the pool overlooking the Ridge.

Lunch was normally served around 2 or 3pm and was different every day as you can see from the photos above. Most meals were also served with a big side salad and bowl of bread, plus plenty of cold water with fresh squeezed lemons from the trees dotting the property.

Dinner was served late, anywhere between 9-11pm. There were a couple nights where we ate by candlelight which was quite romantic! Dinner again was different every night, and I don’t think I had a single bad meal. If I had to choose my favourite though it would be the lentil lasagne – I liked it so much that I have already recreated it at home! Andrew’s favourite was Julian’s spicy tagine with cous cous. (Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a photo of either!).

The great thing about the meals, in addition to tasting delicious, is that the servings are very generous and there are usually seconds available – so you never have to worry about going hungry. Also, if you have a car you can nip into Mula for snacks – we found an Aldi that had lots of vegan snacks and even vegan organic wine for only €2.79 a bottle (tasted pretty good too)! If you don’t have a car, Jacob’s Ridge is happy to pick up any special snack or drink requests for you.

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The animals

Jacob’s Ridge currently has 130 animals, of which 72 are pigs. Other animals include horses, goats, donkeys, dogs and many cats. It was lovely to be surrounded by so many animals. I was particularly fond of the pigs – especially the girls. They were so friendly, curious and affectionate – and loved getting belly rubs! The pigs are also VERY appreciative when you feed them (can relate tbh)! There is something really good for the soul about spending time with so many different animals – and you can really tell it has a profound effect on the people who visit. Everyone was laughing and glowing and having such a fun, worry-free time by the end of our stay. So yes, there is a bit of dirt, sweat and bugs involved, but it seems such a small price to pay for a little peace of mind.

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So there you have it – a full rundown of our week on the Ridge. I would definitely go back – but maybe when it’s a bit cooler (it was around 40c the first couple days we were there). Oh, and if you go, make sure you take some shoes or boots you don’t mind getting trashed – not only were mine filthy by the week’s end, but they were also full of holes!

Be sure to check out my vlog below to see my week in action, and go follow Jacob’s Ridge on social media:

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