Little Barn of Calm
Meet the founder of Little Barn of Calm, who turned her experience of supporting children into a nurturing outdoor space where young people can simply be themselves. Inspired by her daughter’s struggle with anxiety and the calming effect of animals, she created a place where neurodiverse children can spend time outdoors, care for animals, and build confidence at their own pace.
With support from Michelle at Durham Startups, including help in registering a social enterprise (Community Interest Company), she brought the idea to life. “I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved. It’s not like a job. I just wanted to help as many children as possible.”
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**[Founder]** Michelle has been amazing. I don’t think I could have done it without Michelle. She tells me what I needed and helped me get registered with Companies House. She is part of the business. I feel she really does support me through all of those kind of things.
Come on, guys. We started Little Barn of Calm ’cause my daughter struggled with anxiety, and being outside with the animals really calmed her. We have two young goats, six rabbits, two guinea pigs, three horses, and about 40 chickens on my last count.
**[To a child]** Do you want to groom, mate?
**[Child]** Guinea pigs, like, with the brush. That’s a job. Um, feed the guinea pigs.
**[Founder]** Feed the guinea pigs. Yeah.
I worked at a nursery for 18 years supporting children in the local area. I just love working with neurodiverse children.
**[Child]** This horse. Wow.
**[Founder]** Yes. There’s nobody else here judging them. It’s just them, the animals. Oh, the rabbits are getting out — I better close that door.
So many children mask who they are and then go home and let out all of that anxiety, all of that frustration, where I just want them to be able to come here and be themselves.
My favourite bit is seeing the children that really struggled at first to be thriving now in this environment. And their teachers say they’re not like this at school — they’re quiet at school, they’re not engaged. And the children have just come on so much, from being so timid to then thinking they own the place, you know, and having a lovely time mucking out. Just the difference is incredible.
**[College staff]** It’s a whole different environment. Some of our students don’t even like to get dirty or muddy or anything. So being here, you are putting them out of their comfort zone, but in a controlled way.
**[Parent]** She loves animals, yeah. So she likes the rabbits and she likes to cuddle them and feed them. And she says it makes her feel calm, which is nice.
**[College staff]** The occupational therapy team at college, they’ve come here, they’ve seen what can be done. So it’s really nice, and integrating that into education is really important. So hopefully we’ll be able to keep coming and bring more students and make the change for everyone.
It’s a hell of a difference, yeah. So we have one student who is doing a work placement here — they’ve completely come out of their shell. They’ll now talk around college and they’re very different. So it’s really nice, it’s boosting their confidence.
**[Founder]** I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved. I love it. So rewarding. It’s not like a job. I just wanted to help as many children as possible, really.