"Norskwood” are Ali, Steve and baby daughter Carys and we are based in North East London on the border with Essex. We are owned by 15 cats - 2 rescue cats, a British Shorthair and 12 Norwegian Forest Cats. We show and breed Norwegians having been introduced to this wonderful breed in 2003.

Our Cat Garden in Summer

Both of us grew up with cats but it wasn't until 2002 when one of our moggies died that we started looking round for a similar cat to him. Ali had always been a big fan of adopting rescue cats, but try as we might there just weren't any Silver Tabbies about (like Kenny) mostly after the success of the Whiskas and the Bacardi Breezer advertisements. We looked on the internet and saw many breeds of cat that looked great and ended up bringing home a bundle of chaos that we called Ruby (a Silver Spotted Tortie Tabby British Shorthair), our very first pedigree. I'd been very taken with Maine Coons, but Steve preferred the "look" of the Norwegian Forest Cat and for his Birthday present in 2003 he received Forestdancer Ellwood (now Premier Forestdancer Ellwood). He wanted a big furry handsome cat and that is exactly what he got and we've never looked back!

View of Cat Garden Towards the House

Since then we've brought home Premier Nordlys Dewi and his brother Premier Nordlys Dominic, and after much consideration we decided that we would like to breed this magnificent type of cat. Champion Catwo Sunndance our first Queen came to live with us in June 2004, and Nordlys Fallow, our second Queen in April 2005 and her half sister Nordlys Isadora (Izzy) in October 2005. We have also kept a kitten from nearly every litter we’ve had so far! First we kept Cordy (Champion Norskwood Cordelia) from Buffy’s (Champion Catwo Sunndance) first litter in May 2005. And then when Buffy had her second litter in July 2006 we kept Anya (now also a Champion) because she was a single kitten and we fell in love with her purrsonality and beauty. And of course we kept Greebo (also now a Champion) from Willow’s (Nordlys Fallow) first litter and he is now our gorgeous stud boy. Finally there’s Marmalade from Greebo’s first litter with Buffy, who we hand reared and who stole our hearts.

Our Cat Garden in Winter

Many thanks go to our friends Yve Hamilton Bruce of Forestdancer, Carole Smith of Nordlys and Jennifer Sedgwick of Catwo Norwegian Forest Cats.

The original Forest Cats in Norway survived the cold and snow and had to be strong, intelligent and hardy in order to do so. They are often described as "Mother Nature's" cats- they are a natural breed and we would like to keep it that way. We aim to breed healthy kittens of good type and excellent temperament. Norwegian Forest Cats make wonderful companions. They are affectionate, intelligent and like to get involved in everything and anything.

All our cats are first and foremost our pets, and are treated as such living with us in the house with access to an enclosed garden, in which they can play, sunbathe and climb trees. We breed and show as hobbies and devote most of our spare time to our cats be they the Wegies, our rescue cats or Ruby.