Joy Bloor has been looking after tortoises for many years. It is a hobby that has grown into a full time job offering love and care to well over 100 tortoises of many different breeds. The dedication to tortoises started quite by accident. Joy went to visit a local pet shop. She wanted her own pet, but this one visit has led to a lifetime of caring for tortoises. "About 30 years ago I went to a pet shop to buy a kitten," remembers Joy. "There were some tortoises in the shop, so I went to have a look. I picked one up, and just fell in love with him. So I bought him, and it cost about £2 ten shillings in old money. I put him in the garden and I thought 'I don't know what to do with this little darling'."  | | Joy Bloor with Zeus, a larger member of the family! |
Joy went to the library to get some books on caring for tortoises. It was then that she made an unpleasant discovery. "I was horrified to find out how badly they fared in our climate and how many perished on the journey over to this country," she says. "I joined a campaign to stop the import of tortoises which was successful in 1984. I decided to challenge my energies into making life better for the ones that were here." "At first I took a tortoise in when someone was moving house because the new garden wasn't going to be suitable and they stayed with me," explains Joy. "Then someone else said 'can you have mine' before I knew it I had 18. Soon I had to move house because the garden wasn't big enough!"  | | Banger and son! |
Word soon spread about Joy's love of tortoises and the expert care she offered. It was not long before the initial 18 tortoises grew to 79! "We wanted to retire in Cornwall so we decided to move again," she says. "The amount of interest we were receiving was huge so we decided to open it to the public and see if we could get enough donations to generate a self-sufficient tortoise garden." The climate in Cornwall is milder than a lot of places in the UK but the tortoises need special attention to enable them to live happily. "We have got a big 90 foot glasshouse, a 28 foot one and four smaller ones that are divided into pens that they all live in," says Joy. "They all have heat lamps and do well in them." Joy's love of tortoises has grown from being a hobby to a full time job. "We are up with the lark in the morning," laughs Joy. "We are chopping enough fruit and vegetables to feed 200 tortoises. They eat cabbage and all sorts of greens like brocoli and spinach, as well as dandelions. They have tomato and cucumbers too. The tortoises have a weekly bath! We like to keep them clean, and we keep the greenhouses clean and smelling fresh too. I clean up after them all the time."  | | Jezebel enjoys the Cornish sunshine |
Feeding time at the Tortoise Garden can be an interesting task for Joy and her husband Geoff. "We have eight blind tortoises who I have to hand feed," explains Joy. "We have a lot of babies who need looking after too." Joy and Geoff are not in the business of selling baby tortoises. "It was never our intention to set up as a retailer," says Geoff. "We do it purely as a conservation project. It is wonderful watching them hatch out." The tortoise will lay between five and nine eggs and they bury them like a turtles does, because that is their job done. Joy and Geoff will then immediately dig them up and put them in an incubator. Between 30 and 90 days later the little ones will start to hatch out. "They are completely self-sufficient from the word go," says Joy. "They hatch out the size of a 50 pence piece. If you have ever been on holiday to Greece you'll know the scrub-land is quite sparce, these babies have to go out and find food and water without falling off a cliff."  | | These two appear to be a little camera shy! |
"The tortoises have their own bank account," says Joy. "Every penny that is donated is ploughed straight back into the Tortoise Garden." The winter months are a 'quieter' period for Geoff and Joy. Although there is rarely time for rest for the dedicated couple! In the summer when all the tortoises are awake (around 90 are currently hibernating) Joy and Geoff are busy from the crack of dawn until late at night seven days a week. In the season they are not only giving unlimited love and attention to their tortoises but they are also showing visitors around. There are over 140 different tortoises on view from toddlers to those over 90 years old! Many people who have owned tortoises and have given them to the Tortoise Garden, return each year to see how their former pets are doing.  | | Two friends together on the patio! |
On top of the resident tortoises Geoff and Joy also look after pets for people who are going on holiday! And each year there are new challenges to deal with. "We have had four wake up early so far," explains Joy in her latest newsletter on the Tortoise Garden Website. "One of whom is causing us a little bit of concern because she doesn't seem to like the buffet that is laid out daily for her!! A phone call to her owner quickly established that this was normal behaviour for Maudie and she would not be pressured into eating before she was ready. So be it. The tortoise is always right!!"  | | This little one loves black leather shoes! |
The Tortoise Garden will be open from Good Friday until 30th September. During the season the tortoises welcome visitors from 10am - 4pm seven days a week. Admission is by donation. There is free car parking. Visit the Tortoise Garden website to see fantastic pictures of the residents, and find out more about the work of the Bloors.
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