Price, terms and process
From first email to go-home day
Most of our families wait between six months and a year. We'd rather you waited for the right puppy than took the wrong one now. Here is every step, what it costs and when, and what we promise in return.
Last updated Wednesday 7 October 2026
Nine steps
1. Read
This site, especially the Health page and 'Is a Golden right for you?'. Most of what we would say on the phone is here.
2. Questionnaire
About fifteen minutes. It covers your home and garden, fencing, who lives with you, your working week, past dogs, what you would like to do with a Golden, and when.
Open the questionnaire3. A phone call
Within two working days of your questionnaire. About half an hour, both ways: you should be checking us as much as we are checking you.
4. A visit
Come and meet our adult dogs at home, between litters or with a litter from five weeks. Families who live far away start with a video call, but everyone visits before collection.
5. Approval and the waiting list
We tell you yes or no in writing. If it's yes, you go on the list for a named litter or the next suitable one. There is no fee to join.
6. Deposit
£300, only after the litter is born and you have visited. It comes off the price.
7. Matching at 7 weeks
We match each puppy to a family after the independent temperament assessment and seven weeks of watching them. There is no pick order. You can tell us what you hope for, and we will explain our choice.
8. Go-home day
From 8 weeks and a few days, at our house, one family at a time. You'll be with us for about an hour and leave with the folder, the paperwork and a sleepy puppy.
9. For life
Calls at 1 week and 1 month, a get-together on the litter's second birthday, our owners' Facebook group, and our number for as long as your dog lives.
Price and payment
£2,200 for every puppy, dog or bitch, show prospect or pet. That is in line with the Golden Retriever clubs' guidance for health-tested litters in 2026. It covers the parents' health testing, stud fees, the scan, vet checks, the first vaccination, the litter eye screen, microchips, registration and the puppy pack. In a normal year the price covers those costs. It does not pay for our time.
Deposit: £300, taken by bank transfer only after the litter is born and you have visited. If we cannot offer you a puppy, it is refunded in full. If you change your mind before matching day, it is refunded in full. After matching, it is refunded if we place your puppy with another family. Otherwise it can move to a later litter. Balance: £1,900 by bank transfer, cleared before you collect.
Payment goes only to a UK bank account in Helen Ashworth's name, details given on the phone. We never take gift cards, crypto, money-transfer services or payment to anyone else, and nobody will ever ask you for 'courier' or 'insurance' fees.
The contract, in short
The Puppy Contract
We use the RSPCA and Animal Welfare Foundation's Puppy Contract and Puppy Information Pack. You'll see them, filled in, before you pay the deposit. Our own contract of sale sits alongside it.
Endorsements
Every puppy is registered with the Royal Kennel Club with two endorsements: 'progeny not eligible for registration' and 'not eligible for export pedigree'. We lift the breeding endorsement on request for a dog over two with hips under 15 each side, elbows 0, a clear eye test and the DNA tests done, once we have talked about the plan.
Health guarantee
If, before 26 months, your dog is diagnosed with a hereditary condition we test the parents for, we refund £1,000 of the price and you keep your dog. That covers a hip total over 30, an elbow grade of 2 or more, PRA, hereditary cataract or a DNA-tested disease. Or, if you prefer, we take the dog back and refund the full price.
Vet check
Take your puppy to your own vet within 72 hours. If they find a problem we did not tell you about, you can return the puppy for a full refund.
Lifetime take-back
We will take back any dog we have bred, at any age, for any reason, or help you find it a new home that we approve. You must not sell or give a Meadowbrook dog away without talking to us first.
What we ask of you
Please don't neuter before 18 months for bitches and 24 months for dogs, unless your vet advises it. Hip and elbow X-rays at 12–24 months, which we pay up to £250 towards. And a photo now and then.
Visiting
You are welcome to visit before you apply, to meet the adult dogs. When there is a litter, approved families visit from five weeks, two families an afternoon, for an hour each. Please don't come straight from another kennel, a rescue or a dog show, and please leave your own dog at home. You'll take your shoes off and wash your hands at the door, and Bramble will decide when you have had long enough. You will always meet the mother with her puppies, where they were born.
About money and paperwork
Is the deposit refundable?
Yes, in full, if we cannot offer you a puppy or you change your mind before matching day at 7 weeks. After matching it's refunded if we place your puppy elsewhere; otherwise it can move to a later litter.
Do you charge more for a show puppy, or for a bitch?
No. Every puppy is £2,200.
Will you deliver a puppy to us?
No. You collect from our home, where you have already met the mother. We don't use couriers or meet anyone halfway.
What registration does the puppy have?
Royal Kennel Club registration, with the transfer form signed on the day, a five-generation pedigree and the two endorsements explained above.