June 11, 2026 - 323 views
Crafty painted goats hidden around Llandudno have been delighting visitors – all created by a stroke survivor living in a Wrexham care home.
Amateur artist Eileen Scutt, 75, hand-painted quirky goat portraits onto pebbles inspired by the famous Great Orme herd before they were secretly dotted around the seaside resort.
The former Buckley resident, who now lives at Pendine Park’s Highfield care home after suffering a debilitating stroke, has continued pursuing her lifelong passion for art despite serious mobility problems.
Carers at Pendine were so impressed by Eileen’s striking creations that enrichments activities practitioner Tracy King took several of the pebble goats on holiday to Llandudno and photographed them peeking out from famous landmarks across the town.
The Great Orme goats are said to be distant descendants of Kashmiri goat herds, which once roamed the mountains of Northern India, Ladakh, Kashmir, the Iranian plateau or the Afghan highlands. It is thought they descend from two goats originally brought to Llandudno by Major General Sir Savage Mostyn in the 19th century.
Tracy said: “I had planned to take a few days’ spring break in Llandudno anyway and so I offered to take some of the pebbles with me.
“It’s a fairly novel idea, I know but we thought maybe the goats could come on holiday too.”
Eileen agreed it would be a fun idea and between them they came up with a plan to place some of the pebbles at different locations around the elegant North Wales resort.
Tracy had great fun taking photographs of the pebbles on tour, including at the beach, on the pier, at the foot of Llandudno’s Alice in Wonderland statue and by the hoof of a well-known sculpture of a Great Orme goat.
According to Eileen, she has enjoyed doing all kinds of artwork for many years and gained great satisfaction from making the pebble pictures.
She said: “I like to draw native wildlife of Britain, including some birds. I often work on paper but I do like the textures of different surfaces and lately I’ve been a little bit obsessed about painting on pebbles.
“I use acrylic paint, then I glaze it over using clear varnish, so it is more durable and doesn’t easily rub off. I find that method is perfect for pebbles.”
She has drawn squirrels and birds on the pebbles but then came up with the idea of painting the goats which have famously roamed the Great Orme at Llandudno for about 100 years.
Eileen said: “They are great characters and have different expressions. I’ve always been quite fascinated by them. Goats have such forceful personalities.”
Eileen and her sister, Carol Barratt, used to attend art sessions at the Daleside garden centre in Hawarden, some years ago.
Carol who regularly visits Eileen said: “We would both go to the art sessions but Eileen’s creations were always better than mine. She just has a natural talent for drawing and painting and it gets better the more she practices.”
They pair believe they inherited their love of art from their father Joseph Scutt who was also a keen amateur painter.
Eileen’s past work has been exhibited at the Virgin Art Show, a popular annual event held at Mold Parish Church.
The walls of her room at Highfield, in Summerhill, near Wrexham, are filled with her paintings and drawings.
Tracy said: “We thought it would be a fantastic idea for a few of the pebbles to go to the actual home area of the goats which inspired them. We hoped that maybe they would inspire a smile or two among people who came across them or saw the resulting photographs.”
Eileen added: “With my mobility problems I find art a wonderful therapy and I can spend many a happy hour or so with my paints and pastels.”
Art in all its forms has long been encouraged by Pendine Park which was the first in Wales to recruit Artist in Residence, Sarah Edwards, more than 25 years ago.
Sarah, now assisted by creative arts consultant Jason Bennion, heads up successful arts workshops at Pendine Park’s care homes in Summerhill and at Gwern Alyn and Hillbury House residential homes in Hillbury Road, Wrexham. Their work has become so admired that artistic Pendine Park residents have gone on to provide much valued creative input for a number of community projects in recent years, including local and national eisteddfods, and the St Asaph International Music Festival.
Eileen said she is grateful for the chance to develop her art while living at Highfield and for the help of Tracy and fellow carers in enabling her to pursue her passion.
The mum of two grown up sons, Anthony and Matthew Murray, she has four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
She said: “A number of the little ones have also shown artistic promise and have even presented me with gifts of drawings they have done, including one of a pet bird I used to have years ago. It has pride of place in my room.”
Highfield manager Tracey Smith said: “This is such a lovely idea and it’s wonderful that Eilleen’s talent is now being appreciated by a wider audience.
“The arts provide a golden thread running through life at all of Pendine’s care homes.
“It’s part of our core philosophy. The arts are deeply woven into the daily routine of residents and staff to enrich lives and promote wellbeing.”
