SIR Christopher Musgrave and his wife Lady Carole have been ordered by planners to clear a site they were preparing to run as a working farm.

Herds of goats, sheep, Shetland ponies, chickens and geese - some adopted from the RSPCA - now face an uncertain future should they be forced off the land in accordance with the enforcement notice.

But the couple are vowing to put their dream back on track after Winchester planners refused them permission to run the farm using disabled people as farm hands.

They are preparing to lodge and appeal with the Secretary of State that would stall the enforcement notice from taking affect.

Lady Carol, of Ranvilles Lane, Fareham, said: "We were expecting the notice but we are fighting this and are in the process of lodging an appeal.

"It seems to us that there are just no policies in place that cater for the project we are undertaking. A working farm employing disabled people.

"This is a community project that has the backing of the educational and disabled organisations we have contacted for advice so we really don't know what the problem is.

"We are certainly lodging the appeal so we are not going to be moving just yet."

Along with the animals, the enclosures, caravans and temporary outbuildings would also have to be removed from the Barn Farm site in Hambledon.

A spokesman for Winchester City Council confirmed the enforcement notice was effective within three months but that it would be set aside while any appeal was being heard.

The Musgrave's application was refused twice on the grounds that having a caravan on the site was tantamount to residential accommodation.

The pair partly funded the project by selling off family heirlooms.