On a damp and muddy Saturday in February 2026, This is Haslemere spent the morning with Jo Pepper who volunteers for the Lynchmere Cow Club. We originally met Jo when she was volunteering at The Wassail in January 2026. Having followed her social media channels and been mesmerised by her footage of the Belted Galloways on Lynchmere Common, we were so interested to find out more about her volunteering.

By day, Jo is tied to a screen and telephone working in healthcare administration. She is a single mum and, when her son left home, she felt lost and needed to find a new purpose to fill the space in her empty nest. She also craved getting outside. Jo got the walking bug finding many new routes where she lived. She’d often walk in the woods around Lynchmere and one day she saw the Belted Galloways grazing in the fields and wondered about them and what they were doing there.

Jo told us, “I’d had no exposure to animals at all in the past, so when I moved here and came across the cows in Valley Field while out walking on my own, I found I was really drawn to them. Whenever I saw them on my walks, I’d stand at the gate and feel this strange sense of calm and peace come over me. I’d seen signs about joining the Cow Club on the gates, but I didn’t think I’d be the sort of person they’d be looking for. Three years ago, when I saw Daenerys in the field as a tiny calf, and starting crying at the sight of her, I knew I had to get involved to be able to get nearer the cows.”

Jo became a Cow Looker and member of The Lynchmere Cow Club. The club is a Community Interest Company providing an essential grazing service for the Lynchmere Commons nature reserve. They also offer members the finest quality meat with a positive ecological impact and the highest nutritional and welfare possible. They are supported by The Lynchmere Society and The South Downs National Park. Currently the club has thirteen Belted Galloways grazing, controlling the scrub to enable the conditions for heathland species to survive.

Jo is part of a core team of ten Cow Lookers who regularly check on the cows and get to know the herd. Within those ten are the Steering Group of Gareth, Edwin, Sarah and Sue who decide what happens to the cows and where they are moved. This is a balance between what the cows need and the requirements of managing the heathland so as not to over graze.

We walked up a private track to see the Belties and Jo explained that firstly she checks they are all there. She got up close, monitored their hooves, really understood their behaviour, and kept checking all were OK. Jo said they also check for broken fences, fallen trees but she insists their priority is to check on the Belties. She chatted with each cow and happily shared that they have become an obsession.

There is no question, the big common is Jo’s happy place. Whilst she talked of the conservation benefits through grazing, we could also see that she is part of a herd of volunteers who have become close friends and this means the world to her. Jo told us, “Being around the cows and walking on the common, it’s just so incredibly calming and therapeutic, and really feeds my soul. Every day after work when the cows are on the common, I’ll go up there and will go for a good long walk around it, as well as seeing the herd. As soon as I walk through that gate I feel at peace, and then as soon as I can see the cows and start walking to them, I feel real joy. I can’t think of anything more perfect to do after a day at work.”

If you would like to support the conservation work that the Lynchmere Cow Club are doing you can join as a member (£50 per household per year), or you can make a donation via their website.

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