In 1990 my mum decided that she wanted a dog. Not any dog, but a bearded collie. Of course I agreed with her completely (which 11 year old doesn't want a dog?!) We went to a Young Dogs Day of the Dutch Bearded Collie Club to learn more about the breed. On that day we met Marie José and Jos Volkers of the Babbacombe Kennels. Moë, one of their dogs, was expecting puppies and we could have one.....

Finally.... on the 7th April 1990 Dimple (Babbacombe Smoky Light) was born! He was a blue dog out of Ch. Beagold Wayward Lad and Ardassine Eskimo, a lovely puppy with a very nice expression. Through Marie José and Jos we got to know the world of showing. Dimple was never bought as a show dog, but we wanted to give showing a try. Our first show was in Leiden. On that day Dimple did well and my mum thought it would be nice to have another (show) beardie. But this time we wanted a black one.

In June 1991 our second beardie, Chester (Babbacombe Make My Day), was born. He was out of Ch. Gilby Fawn Oner of Debora's Farm and Babbacome Sugar and Spice. Chester was a very promising puppy, but unfortunately he didn't grow up the way we thought he would. Although he had a lovely character, his appearance was not that good. He never saw a showring, but I'm sure it was fine with him.

November 1992: a very dark period in our lives. We had to put Dimple to sleep at the age of 2 1/2. Chester, who grew up with Dimple, stayed behind alone. My mum thought it was not good for him to stay alone so decided to get another dog as soon as possible. Marie José and Jos didn't have a litter at the time and were not expecting any puppies in the months to come. They called their friend Jacky James (Charncroft Kennels) in the UK to see if she had a puppy left in the litter her dog had at that time. Jacky had one lovely, very promising, brown show puppy which she said we could have. So that's when Copper came into our lives.

Copper (Charncroft Copper Sunrise) was born on the 28th October 1992 out of Charncroft Cloverglen and Bendale Secret's Out at Charncroft. At the age of 12 weeks Marie José went to England to pick up Copper. He was a very naughty puppy but he had a great character.

In March 1993 we went to visit Marie José and Jos and they had kept Brontë from their last litter. Unfortunately Brontë didn't feel at ease in their group of dogs, so they asked us if we wanted to have her. Brontë went home with us and she stayed. She adored Chester and Copper! She's still over the moon whenever she sees Marie José and Jos. Brontë had two litters at their home.

In September 1996 we had our first litter out of Copper and Brontë. She got 5 lovely puppies. We had to apply for a kennelname and we knew straight away that we wanted a name, in which Dimple would always be remembered. Therefore the prefix Dimpleton.

In November 2001 we had to say goodbye to Copper.

We wanted another Beardie and Marie José and Jos were expecting a litter of Brontë's daughter Ruby. On the 26th April 2002 Abbey was born out of Babbacombe Imagination and Babbacombe Ommadawn. I saw her at the age of two weeks and it was love at first sight. She was absolutely adorable!

In September 2002 we also had to say goodbye to Chester.

Out of Abbey's first litter we've kept Suzy. She's a lovely slate lady and Brontë and Abbey love her.