Former IT project manager Jo McManus decided she wanted a career change to lead a more relaxed life, running her own alpaca farm.

Mrs McManus of Seend is on the verge of completing a two-year foundation degree in animal science and management at Wiltshire College Lackham.

She said: “I have always had an interest in animals and had been thinking do I really want to do this job for the rest of my life and so I decided to do the animal management course to help me set up my alpaca farm. I already own one alpaca, Claudia, who is at a farm in Salisbury and she is pregnant so my husband and I are looking for a piece of land near our home of about four or five acres so that we can buy more alpacas.”

Explaining why she is so interested in alpacas, Mrs McManus said: “I think they are wonderful creatures and they have such great personalities.”

Her husband Simon, 39, who is a project manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland, is supporting the project and is looking forward to working outdoors on their land.