Applecote Golden Retrievers
Ha1
'Where temperament comes as standard'
a
About Us
​
Having lost our cocker spaniel to old age my parents decided that the next dog to enter our lives should be a golden retriever. Renowned for their temperament and with a young family this breed made perfect sense. So in May 1985 Penny arrived having seen an advert in the local newspaper that a litter was available local to where we live. Back then there was no visiting the litter several times, getting to know the breeder or even being placed on a waitlist.
We contacted the lady, arranged a visit and the following day bought Penny home and so our kennel began.
​
Not knowing anything about lines or pedigrees at the time it was only some 8 years later when we bought our next golden from a show kennel that we realised our lovely Penny was actually of excellent breeding with many of the top winning kennels of her day in her lines....Sansue, Westley, Glennessa, Camrose, Melfricka all kennels with the exception of Sansue that are now in the history books.
We are Lesley, Teresa and Michael Layland and together with our dogs we are Applecote Golden Retrievers a small show kennel based in Leicestershire in the heart of rural England.
Our dogs are first and foremost much loved and valued members of the family, who live in our home, share the comfort of our sofa and on a cold day huddle around the fire and keep warm.
​
We are proud to have bred; 1 UK Show Champion, 2 South African Champions, 1 Russian Champion
and an RKC Junior Warrant holder.
We have also bred dogs who have gained entry into the Kennel Club stud book with all of our current show team Crufts qualified for life.
We regularly compete at Championship and Open shows throughout the country but when not at shows our dogs are just like any other dog; enjoying walks and time off lead, getting mucky and definitely getting up to monkey business ;)
​
......And our life with Goldens all started in 1985 when we bought our very first one, Penny.
Lesley with an 8wk old Penny
Sadly in 1993 we had to say goodbye to Penny, still in her prime she was taken suddenly ill and despite the vets best efforts to save her she sadly passed away. For the first time our house was without a dog. The atmosphere had gone, there was no life in the house and all of the routines and habits had now disappeared. We couldn't live without a dog so the search was on for another puppy. After ringing around numerous breeders we finally had a breakthorough. A breeder had a litter due in a few weeks and we were able to put our name down on her waitlist for a bitch so then it was just a waiting game and keeping everything crossed for a puppy. November 1993 Esmee (Dunsaron Anna Felicia) joined our family. Encouraged by the breeder and fancying a go at showing we tentatively entered the show ring in the following March and at our first ever show we gained a second place. Shocked and elated and lots of kind words from the judge and Esmee's sire we entered another show and another eventually catching the 'showing bug'.
Penny at around 6 years old
Amirene Charming Cindy Of Applecote, Amirene Eyes For Only You, Amirene Future Vision Of Applecote
Wanting to start a kennel of our own we had our first litter in July 1996. The chosen sire was Kerrien Churchill Of Sansue, a beautiful rich dark coated boy. From this litter we kept two puppies, Rosie - Applecote Rosemary Russet and Freddy - Applecote Washington Gem. We had success in the ring with both of them with Rosie going on to gain hers and ours very first Royal Kennel Club Stud book number. The following year we had a second litter with Esmee by Sh Ch Amirene Pacifique which produced Applecote Jennifer Juniper. From this pairing we gained a strong freindship with the Amirene kennel in County Durham and since then we have been lucky to share our lives with 5 Amirene girls with the last one, Amy sadly passing away in September 2025.
Throughout the years i (Lesley) have attended breed seminars and educational events, wanting to expand my knowledge of the breed. In 2001 i had my first judging appointment at Pinxton Canine Society and in 2017 was approved by the Royal Kennel Club to award Challenge Certificates, a dream that had been a long time in the making. I have now awarded my 2nd set of CC's and have judged in The Netherlands, Germany, South Africa and Hungary. Wanting to give something back to the breed in 2018 i joined the committee of Midland Golden Retriever Club as Honorary Secretary a position which i still hold today.
​
​
​
"Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one is a life diminished."
Dean Koontz