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An Ide Hill artist and animal lover has come up with the perfect way to combine her two greatest passions in life.

Quornden Farm resident Julie Childs has set up an animal sanctuary in her back garden and uses her farmyard friends as inspiration for works of art.

A trained zoologist, Mrs Childs moved to Ide Hill 14 years ago and soon set up the local branch of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Her love of wildlife is deep rooted and she wasted no time in making the most of using her farmland for helping rescue animals.

"I am lucky enough to have some land here," she said. "And I like to put it on paper. The fact that I can look after animals is great but I am only doing a tiny bit here. A lot of people don't appreciate animals and treat them badly. If I could I would go and buy a rainforest or go and save the orangutans."

One of the goats that roams Mrs Childs' farm was "rescued" at Sevenoaks market.

She recalled seeing the little kid in the back of a transit van and its owner told her she could buy it for £20 or else it would have its throat cut later that day.

Mrs Childs' art includes acrylics, watercolours and even exotic mirrors, but her favourite is batik - a method of dyeing materials using wax.

Although she began expressing herself artistically relatively late in life, Mrs Childs' mother was a sculptress and with so much beauty to inspire her on her doorstep she said it was hard not to produce something to somebody's liking.

A hobby more than a commercial enterprise, Mrs Childs will be displaying her wares as part of the South East Open Studios 2007. Myra Wishart, whose speciality is glassware, will be joining Mrs Childs at her home address every weekend between June 8 and June 24.

For more information on this year's event visit www.seos-art.org