About us

Photo: Bride and Groom with 'best men' Hail and Storm

We are Jenny and Richard (Frankland) Mace, we met through our mutual love of dogs and the countryside and after being together for 11 years we became Mr & Mrs on the 19th March 2005. Jenny has owned the Affix PURBARN since the early 70’s when she had her first Golden. Richard is a Gamekeeper and has always been a Spaniel man, but now owns some of the Goldens in partnership with Jenny. We still have the Spaniels and have started our own line of Chocolate Working Spaniels, which all started with a mating between a pure bred Black Working Cocker 'Bib' and a Sussex Spaniel 'Ellie'. We also have the Trevacat Ragdoll cats, Ornamental Pheasants including Peacocks, some Guinea Fowl, all the chickens and some Bronze Turkeys and last but by no means least the pond full of Koi Carp.

Our Little Home

After living and working in Worcestershire for just 3 years, Rich was made redundant again. So after a rather stressful few months we not only secured a new Gamekeepers job in North Wales, but also had the mammoth job of moving again with all the menagerie, which had grown since we had been there and included a litter of 8 Golden puppies at 3 weeks old and a singleton at 11 days younger. The good side of this was that the bungalow that we moved to is slightly bigger, so there is more room for a few more dogs to be in the house at any one time. Also the Shooting ground is better too and the Syndicate are a great bunch of guys!

Garden Lodge

The layout of the garden was not as easy to fit everything into, but we managed, but there is still a lot more work to be done before we can say we have done all we want for all the animals. There was a block of 5 kennels, but they were very dilapidated and had to be refurbished as soon as we had the time to do it. We also had to build Catteries and more Kennels. Both these were built closer to the house so we could keep a better eye on all the occupants. We divided the garden in half so we could have a bit where the dogs would not go below the kennels, which saves the possibility of the dogs going swimming in the large pond which we dug for all the Koi Carp. Below the bottom bit of the garden there was already a big chicken pen so we erected more smaller pens inside as a temporary area for the Ornamental stock.

The work contines ..................................................... so watch out for updates.

All we had for Kennelling when we moved in. The pond eventually was dug below this Kennel block

The New Top Tier of Kennels + the Old Bottom Tier refurbished

The Kennels on the Right and the bottom of the Catteries on the left with the pergola running down the middle, which looked lovely with all the hanging baskets on during the summer

The Catteries + the big Puppy Kennel which is nearest to the house and also has a CCTV camera set up in it

The Koi pond in the snow

The pond and the Sexy Girls kennel in the summer

Before the Cattle Grid was put in

Rich testing the Cattle Grid on the Quad

Cattle Grid and Gate all done now, it makes a great difference !

A Little Bit About Me (Jenny Frankland-Mace)

I have had dogs of one sort or another as long as I can remember. I got my first Golden Retriever in the early 70’s. At that time I was a BHSI Riding Instructor and my first bitch, Trudie (Valjan Trudie Fair) came everywhere with me.

Eventually I decided that I would like to have a litter from Trudie. The lady who owned the sire of Trudie exclaimed that she was such a nice bitch I should show her. So after some persuasion I did and it gave me the bug, as Trudie won her class out of a good entry of 19. This was the start !

Now 30 + years on I have bred Ch Purbarn Xtra Thunderstorm, owned and shown by myself, also Canadian Champion ‘Purbarn’s Forcast is Tranquil’ who lives in the USA & South African Champion ‘Purbarn Hailing Hard’. Other CC winners & RCC winners, Junior Warrant winners and many Dogs and Bitches who have gained their Stud Book numbers among other show accolades, including winning two 1st’ at Crufts in 2000 (one with a dog & one with a bitch) and others both before and since. One of the first’s in 2000 was with ‘Rosaceae Ideal Forecast at Purbarn’ [her ‘Champion ‘Storm’s Grandson]. ‘Deal’ was the sire of the BOB winner at Crufts 2008 and the Dog CC winner and RBOB in 2007, namely ‘Ch Catcombe Corblimey’. The other was ‘Purbarn Come Together’, who went on to take Best Puppy in Breed in 2000 who is the mother of ‘Purbarn Gales N’ Golden Rain’ who has 2CC's, 1 RCC, JW, Sh CM & SGWC. ‘Purbarn Hail in the Storm’ 2CC’s & SGWC has taken Best Gamekeepers Dog in Show at Crufts three time. ‘Hail’ is owned in partnership with my husband Richard Mace who both shows and works him.

I have always worked my dogs in the Shooting Field, and gained prizes with a couple of my dogs in Field Trials, although I freely admit I do not have the time or the inclination to put in that sort of training any more. But if any of the dogs have qualified to take part in the Show Gundog Working Certificate I work with them to gain this certificate.

I have moved about a bit and now live with Richard, my Gamekeeper Husband on a Shoot in North Wales, where we both hope to be able to help others have the chance to enjoy seeing their own Goldens learn to and enjoy working in the field, doing what they were bred to do! We did this on the last 2 shoots where Richard was the Gamekeeper and also ran SGWC tests during January.

I have also been a Canine Beautician and have competed in grooming competitions. I was entered for ‘Euro Groom’ with the Golden that I used on my Grooming Video, namely Razz (Purbarn Razzle Dazzle). We achieved 3rd place in the Show Preparation section, a great achievement, considering that Poodles, Terriers and the like usually take all the prizes.

I have given demonstrations at teach-ins for The UK Golden Retriever Club. It was due to the fact that this appointment clashed with a bitch of mine being due to have a litter around that time that I decided to do the video, just in case I could not make it in person. I used it along side me in the demonstration and afterwards was asked for copies. The video was then produced professionally and has now been sold all over the world. Other clubs that have asked me to give demonstrations have been Berkshire Downs & Chilterns GRC, North West GRC, GRC of Wales and South Western GRC. I also did a demonstration for DeZynaDog Grooming Product Co: I did a teach-in when in Italy Judging for both preparation for showing and Ring Craft. I have also run a very successful trimming demo and Teach-in in a local Village Hall and run a Teach-in to help others in the breed get the most out of their dogs in the show ring.

I am always happy to give help and advice, but will always say we all keep learning and I am sure others can teacher me a thing or two also and that every dog is an individual and where one thing may work on one individual it may not work on another. Much of what I do with my own dogs has been gained through trial and error and lots of hard work practice and patience.

I have Judged at many shows, including Breed Club Shows and judged my first Championship Show in Scotland in November 2004. I have also judged in Italy three times, France twice and once in Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

I have also been booked to Judge:

BD&CGRC Breed Club Champ Show in 2009

URC Champ Show in 2010.

I am very much looking forward to these forthcoming shows.