John and Jenny Phillips have spent most of their lives connected in one way or another with dogs, During the 1950s and 1960s John's parents bred and showed German Shepherd dogs or Alsations as they were called in those days, and even now in their 80's they are still active breeding the odd litter of puppies.

Jenny had little to do with dogs until John left the Royal Air Force in 1974 and they bought their first puppy, a Bearded Collie called Jody. Not being slow to take up a challenge Jenny decided to become active in the dog show circuit, a little breeding and selectively buying the right blood lines culminated in a very successful showing career with several first placements at Championship show level and several trips to Crufts to show our dogs.

Jenny's expertise was acknowledged with the honor of being invited, by her peers to judge at several events and was invited to judge Bearded Collies at the prestigious Chatsworth Park open show.

During the mid eighties John and Jenny bought a house in Derbyshire that had the benefit of 5 acres of land enough, they thought, to build their dream of owning a Boarding Kennel. They built what became the best boarding kennel in that part of Derbyshire. Running a boarding kennel can be very time consuming and is a 365 days a year business and with a young growing family they wanted to spend more time with their two sons Adam and Matthew so the kennels were sold and a move to rural Lincolnshire followed.

At least that was the theory, they still had to make a living and had decided to expand the puppy sales that they had started, in a small way, in Derbyshire. John says, "We gave up one 365 days a year business for another 365 days a year business, thank goodness we both love working with dogs!"

Willow Farm Kennels are now the largest Licensed Kennel specializing in the sale of pedigree puppies in the East of England.