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Harold and Alfie came into our lives in August 2004. Former show and stud bucks, they had been caged all their lives and we were privileged to be able to share with them love, sunshine and freedom.
On arrival they both had fur mites and Harold had a deep wound from a show ring that had cut into his leg.
Neither rabbits could hop and when allowed out onto the lawn were unaware that they could go anywhere. They sat still, only turning round, as they had been accustomed to doing for the previous four years. But, day by day, being forced into making choices they discovered that the walls were no longer there so they could hop, stand on hind legs and investigate open spaces.
It took through to the following summer to rehabilitate these two, building up confidence, muscles and an interest in life. Harold gradually developed a friendship with Bluebell our old blue doe. Then, when our friends John and Cherie from Hawaii were staying, an intense relationship developed between the two brothers and Bluebell.
Sitting with Alfie, our friends noticed Harold pushing his way through to come and join them. Nervously at first, being uncertain of how two un-neutered bucks would react to each other, Cherie and John allowed the meeting to take place. They were prepared at any moment to break up the anticipated fight. Like old friends the brothers greeted each other, and in the nine months that followed there was never a moment's disagreement. Called The Three Lovers, their relationship flourished into a deep love marked by sheer delight in each other's company.
Harold and Bluebell had been the original pair of lovebirds. But as days went by Harold became obsessed by an urge to fill every moment as though he knew he would not have long to be here. He became busy dashing around the garden, scent-marking his favourite places and checking up on the other bunnies. Alfie became content to sit and let the world go by- so gradually a warm friendship grew between him and Bluebell. They would trail round after each other, or sit across each other's backs. Harold would come and join them for a few minutes, before being off to investigate something in another spot.
Their past haunted them, and the effect of being caged for so long caused spinal and joint problems. As the autumn approached, Alfie showed noticeable deterioration in mobility and he went to live with Bluebell. She looked after him, filling his every minute with the love and warmth he had never before dreamed of. They were inseparable, spending the entire day alongside or across each other. When the weather permitted them to go outside Harold would join them and the Three Lovers revelled in each other's company, with the intensity of their love being palpable.
We were privileged to witness and share in this friendship, their unfolding love. But time was not on their side and as the winter came illness began to strike. Despite the best medical treatment, immobility and abscesses became part of Alfie's life - but he was content with Bluebell at his side. We found him with his girl across him, having slipped away at the start of 2006. Within a month his brother had left us too.
Bluebell remains with us, as sweet and as loving as ever. She has readjusted amazingly well and is beginning a new relationship with a younger bunny. They are friends and sit on each other, but the magical world of The Three Lovers is a memory treasured.