The Living Rug flock was started in 2010 when I bought 4 Herdwick sheep from a neighbouring farm. Over the 14 years of keeping sheep the flock went up to 75 at one point.

The flock is a decreasing flock who have a home for life on the farm. Most of the flock are from commercial farms which were going for meat, some were born at the farm and others are from various breeders in the UK. Some are pedigree sheep as well which were bought as a wedding anniversary present from my husband. One is the luckiest sheep on earth because it escaped from a neighbouring farm and wanted to be with one of our flock who it made friends with over the fence. I didn’t have the heart to send it back so it stayed and donates a fleece each year to cover its costs.

I had very little experience with sheep until I got my own but looking after horses all my life gave me experience of looking after animals which was a great help with the sheep.

As you can imagine, some of the sheep are getting older now so that was one of the reasons I stopped taking on more sheep because they require more attention as they get older and working alone and getting older myself I need to make sure I can take care of them and keep up the commitment of looking after all my animals. 

All the sheep have names which they respond to. Each has its own character and personality, just like humans. One or two have become quite famous through social media. Some customers want regular updates on how ‘their’ sheep is having bought one of their rugs in prior years. This is what we mean when we talking about a true ‘Living Rug’.