Pacabella Farm Alpacas & Boutique isn’t your typical petting zoo. This unique farm and shop is a destination for people from across the country. Its visitors range from Air Force veterans to Indianapolis Colts coaches to diplomats from around the world. Its alpacas also produce one of the most valuable natural products—fiber. You’ll be glad you read this!
Farm Tours
Located across from Smith Mountain Lake Country Club, this “fiber-to-fashion” farm offers guided tours and educational agritourism events. Visitors can pet alpacas and shop for wool accessories, many of which are woven on-site.
The alpaca, or Vicugna pacos, is a domesticated species of South American camelid. As herbivores, they eat primarily hay and fresh grass with some grain supplementation. Alpacas are very social creatures and prefer to live in herds, although they can be kept alone if necessary.
On the Farm Tour, you will learn about the history of this fascinating animal and have multiple opportunities to interact with the alpacas in their pens. Then, after the Farm Tour, you will take one of our alpacas for a walk around the property using a halter and lead line. Children 7 and under may purchase an Accompany Ticket for $18 to accompany a friend or family member who has purchased an Alpaca Walking ticket.
Alpacas
John and Robin Watson had no idea they would start a fiber farm when they brought their daughter to a strawberry festival. But it was a chance encounter with two alpacas, Tigger and Java, that changed their lives. Nine years later, the Smith Mountain Lake area’s Pacabella Farm Alpacas & Boutique (named after the couple’s daughter) raises and sells the animals’ sheared fleece and hosts educational agri-tourism events. Shop the store for clothes, accessories, and other products made from alpaca fur, located on Virginia 116 near Burnt Chimney. Browse around this site.
Sales
Located near Burnt Chimney, John and Robin Watson started their farm nine years ago after their daughter, Isabella, got an alpaca for Christmas. The farm now carries 10 sheared alpacas and sells their fiber in the Pacabella Farm store. The family also makes wet felting products, using sheared fur, soap, and water to create felt panels that are rubbed with friction to form wooly fibers into socks, sweaters, and scarves. This “fiber-to-fashion” farm also hosts educational agri-tourism events.
Tours
Visiting a Smith Mountain Lake area alpaca farm is an ideal way to learn about these cute animals and take home accessories made from their sheared fur. The Pacabella Farm is located across from the Westlake Country Club and offers tours for the public as well as classes on wet felting. This process uses sheared fiber, warm water, soap, and friction to create a panel of felt that can be made into socks, sweaters, and scarves. Guests are also welcome to bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the animals on the property. Click here for more interesting articles.
Driving directions from Pure Vue Window Cleaning to Pacabella Farm Alpacas & Boutique
Driving directions from Pacabella Farm Alpacas & Boutique to Falling Creek Park