We are lucky to live in a wonderful place in England called the Somerset Levels and Moors. It is a low lying area of land in the south-west that has been reclaimed and protected from the sea over many centuries. We have badgers at the bottom of our land with deer, hares and many birds in the surrounding fields. The land is drained by a series of ditches and rhynes (big ditches!) into rivers or ‘drains’ out into the sea.
In the winter excess rain floods some of the moors. This is usually fairly well controlled, but in 2000, mainly due to a lack of maintenance, there was water to excess!!! The heaviest flooding in memory occurred in November & December 2001 when nearly 10 billion tonnes of water were held on the moors. Some houses in the village did get flooded, but we gave thanks to the person who had the sense to build our house in 1910. It is on a high ridge and though the flood waters lapped alarmingly around the edge of our land, we still had 3 feet in hand. Phew!
On the next page are some of our favourite pictures of Somerset, the levels in flood and in the Summer

The Barrenger Basset Hounds  have now produced 4 champions and an Irish champion. We have won 40 Challenge Certificates and several res CC’s. & Junior Warrant Winners. We are proud to have bred the Top Winning Basset in the UK in 1999 and 2001, as well as the runner up in 1991. All the Bassets are much loved as pets as well as show dogs, and range in age from a few months to 11 years. Puppies are sometimes available to the right homes & dogs are at stud to approved bitches only. We  are always happy to give advice on any aspect concerning Bassets and make use of our many years of experience in living with this great breed.  We don’t advertise puppies non-stop as we only breed occasionally, but we can often point you in the right direction if you feel that this is the breed for you! The Barrenger
British Shorthair Cats are proud to have 3 champions and and other CC winners. We specialise in silver spotted and tabby.

Margaret with Stella, Dudley

Where we live

Winter 2000 - This is Margaret at the edge of the lane we usually walk down!

Click the Somerset dragon for pictures of the Levels

The Barrenger Basset Hounds and British Shorthair cats live with Sandra Thexton & Margaret Martin. We are a small hobby kennel solely interested in maintaining these beautiful breeds The Barrenger Basset Hounds were founded in 1968 and are one of the top winning kennels in the UK. Our cats are a recent addition in 2002 but now house 3 champions. Both Sandra & Margaret are approved by the Kennel Club to judge at Championship shows.  Margaret is Assistant Secretary of the South West Hound Club and Sandra is also on the committeee. We hope you enjoy browsing through our pages and meeting our hounds, both past & present, and finding out about these wonderful breeds.