We only moved to Holly Cottage because of Charlie, here is his story
Charlie was born on a farm in 1991, but soon moved with his sister Jemima, to live in the old police house in the village of Kings Bromley. It didn’t take him long to decide that this lifestyle wasn’t for him. As a young cat he was a great hunter who enjoyed living outdoors so he decided he was going to live in the fields around Holly Cottage instead and turned up at my Great Aunt’s door just asking for a little water, milk and crunchies from time to time.
He enjoyed his roaming days visiting all the neighbouring farms, businesses and cottages, becoming a well known face to the surrounding area, even to Bromley Hayes Garden Centre on a regular basis and having an afternoon nap on their settees!
The funniest thing that happened during his walks was that there had been rumours for years about a Kings Bromley Panther. Lots of people had seen a very large wild cat in the fields and it got reported in the Lichfield Mercury a few times. One day there was some maintenance work being carried out on the Lichfield Road and whilst talking to a resident the workman pointed over her shoulder and said ‘there’s the panther!!’. She looked round and said ‘don’t be silly – that’s Charlie!!’. Again another article in the Lichfield Mercury! Charlie was famous!
When my great aunt died this left Charlie at Holly Cottage on his own, we decided that it wasn’t fair to move him and so we moved here with our other 5 cats instead!
In his later years Charlie became a retired hunter and a happy house cat, enjoying the luxury of under floor heating, warm beds, regular meals, lots of cuddles, fuss and attention with the option of popping out into the large purpose built cat pen to view his fields at any point he wanted to and bathe in the sun during the warm days.
Us? We don’t regret a minute of it! Moving to Holly Cottage has not only meant we provided a loving home for Charlie, it has allowed us to realise our dream and enabled the cat chalets to be built so that so many more cats can experience the lovely surrounding countryside and view Charlie’s fields themselves!
Sadly, at the grand old age of 20, Charlie had to be put to sleep on 30th July 2011 after an illness he typically showed his strength against and fought for three years. However, he will never be forgotten as Bromley Hayes Cattery lives on in his memory and along with the surrounding fields, will always belong to Charlie.