A FORMER Teignmouth councillor and businessman is now involved in a completely new venture – helping to care for the famous donkeys in the north Devon cliffside village of Clovelly.

Bart Kelly, who used to run Mylor Cycles, Northumberland Place, married village donkey keeper Sue and they now look after the animals, which are a popular tourist attraction, and featured on BBC Countryfile last month.

The donkeys have been used for carrying things up the steep cobbled hill – but never down, that is done on sledges pulled by humans – for as long as anyone can remember.

Carrying people on the cobbles was stopped about 50 years ago on welfare grounds, and there is not so much demand now for luggage hauling. Children’s rides continue at the top of the village, on flat terrain.

‘The donkeys continue to walk down the cobbles without loads, however, and can be seen, patted, and photographed right through the summer season,’ explained Bart, who retains a keen interest in Teignmouth goings on and keeps in touch with friends.

‘We also take them out to Palm Sunday processions, Christmas events, occasional fetes and other events throughout the year, and are often asked to contribute to TV and magazine articles, and had a big multipage article in Country Living magazine in 2014, he said.

‘We’ve also had bit-parts in numerous things like Location Location Location, Escape to the Country and various other documentaries for both UK and foreign TV.

‘When we’re not running around presenting the donkeys to the public, we do a lot of training work using natural horsemanship – Sue has achieved her level I in the Parelli training programme with our first-born donkey Kiwi, and we frequently participate in horse agility competitions, which can be viewed on Youtube.

‘The Donkey Sanctuary at Sidmouth has recognised our welfare standards by awarding us the best working group of donkeys in the south west award a few years ago, and best individual working donkey in the south west, for Jasper, more recently.’

Bart added: ‘We rely almost exclusively upon donations and any earnings from the donkey rides for their upkeep, and if there is any money left, for our living. We welcome any visits from our friends in Teignmouth to come and see what happens to retired bicycle shop keepers.’

Bart sold Mylor cycles in 2000 and embarked on a project to convert barns in Brittany into holiday gites, but that has been put on hold with only one building completed so far.

‘The donkeys took priority, but we hope to start on a second barn some time,’ he said.