Sue Carroll visits Sarah Fisher and Anthony Head at Tilley Farm to find out about their busy lives and their work with disturbed and abandoned animals.

A large alsatian barks a greeting over the fence just inside the main gate and is immediately joined by two grey lurchers adding their welcome. Fortunately, a reassuring voice calls from behind a door 'come in and join us'.

This is Tilley Farm, the first TTEAM and TTOUCH Centre in the UK, created two years ago by Sarah Fisher and her partner Anthony Head, and made famous through the recent ITV series Talking with Animals.

Sarah laughingly introduces herself and her team of helpers who are all busy celebrating baby Maisie's first birthday. There is an air of relaxed friendliness as Maisie opens her large present. Anthony stands quietly in the background. The scene reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Giles, played by Anthony Head in the popular American TV series, stands watchfully on the set, surrounded by a host of glamorous 20 - somethings.

We are inside their new training hall, a large rectangular building with soft rubber mats on the floor, chairs and tables, and a comfortable corner with a large sofa and video screen. This is where Sarah runs her local workshops. We chat over a cup of coffee and Anthony talks about how the Centre has come about. Tilley Farm was made possible by a bequest from a very close friend of Sarah's, as well as their own savings. He says: "One of the things I have learnt is that things seem to happen. If you try to make them happen they don't. Great things come out of life's challenges".

The famous Nescafé coffee adverts screened on television in the 1980s, in which Anthony starred with Sharon Maughan over steaming cups of coffee, made him famous but also typecast him. Producers in this country felt that if viewers saw him on the screen they would immediately turn the sound down and rush to put on the kettle. Although there was plenty of stage work available, he wanted the high profile exposure of television. Anthony says Sarah made the decision for him to go to America in search of work. It was not an easy decision but with their young family happily installed in a large Regency house near Bath and settled in school they decided to take the risk.

Anthony looks back at the hectic lifestyle of the eight years in Los Angeles, now safely behind him, and says laughingly: "Holidays were a definite no-no but I made the family as much a part of my LA experience as possible. On two occasions the children joined a Montessori school in LA for two months each time and had a fantastic time – they benefited enormously from mixing with other children of different age groups." During the eight months of filming Anthony raced back and forth between LA and Bath every five or six weeks, stopping long enough to do the school runs for a few days and then it was back on set in LA.

TTEAM stands for Tellington Touch Equine Awareness Method and is used to teach and train horses, incorporating touch, ground and riding exercises, helping to increase levels of self confidence and self control. More importantly, it reduces chronic pain and poor functioning, which is one of the main stress factors in animals. TTOUCH is the use of this same method with all other animals, gently massaging, talking, training and keeping to a routine. Anthony comments: "It is listening to what the animal is trying to tell us that is so important.

"Watching the programme Talking with Animals on ITV the camera follows Sarah in her work on farms, in shelters, at the Zoo and at Tilley Farm. This was one of the first projects Anthony worked on when returning home permanently from LA, and the couple were delighted to be able to work together. He is the narrator throughout, often stepping into the scene to help Sarah as she demonstrates the techniques of the TTOUCH on many different animals. The programme was so popular that the producers, Tigress Production of Bristol, are now hoping to make a video available for sale.

It is very early days at the Centre and Anthony and Sarah's enthusiasm is infectious. With great delight they show me around outside and introduce me to many of the animals. We visit the lovely, gentle horses – it is almost impossible to believe the unkindness that has been inflicted on them. Sarah says: "Once I have rescued an animal and brought it here to Tilley Farm I can never part with it," and so their 'family' is growing fast! The farm buildings are surrounded by 90 acres of fields and paddocks with tracks and bridleways threading in and out. Slowly as more funding becomes available Anthony and Sarah will add to the existing outbuildings and improve all the facilities. They are hoping soon to build an indoor arena for exercising and training the horses.

Anthony helps in all his spare time. His successes on the recent BBC's Manchild series, and Little Britain where he appears as the Blair-like Prime Minister, was followed by other appearances. He is at present playing the lead roles in both The Pirates of Penzance and Peter Pan, currently showing at The Savoy Theatre in London. His early ambition was a career in music, not the classical kind, but still the Gilbert and

Her specialist workshops include programmes for owners of dogs who have almost given up in despair of finding a solution to behavioural problems. Anthony says: "People will shout and think the animal can understand better but it only arouses fear". Anthony and Sarah are both skilled communicators who have had the good fortune to find the magic ingredient on which to build their lives and their future.

The Tilley Farm website is www.tilleyfarm.co.uk for all information and Workshop programmes.

Anthony Head is appearing in The Pirates of Penzance at The Savoy Theatre until 21 March 2004

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