Written for Cumbria Life.

John

The first frosts of autumn are upon us and the morning mists followed by mellow sunshine make you feel both nostalgic and exited at the same time. As I said in our last article, autumn is the time for the hill farms to sell their crop of lambs, ewes and tips to fresh pastures. I was apprehensive as to what the sales would be like due to the drought in the south and east of the country but on the whole things have gone well so far. Prices have been ever so slightly down on last year but not by much and tips (rams) have sold very well. It’s early days in the sale season but with the good weather and reasonable prices most farmers have smiles on their faces and are full of enthusiasm for the upcoming breeding season.
Unfortunately we didn’t make it London for my birthday as work and a major National event got in the way. The passing of HRH Elizabeth was quite a shock despite her age. I was lucky enough to have met her briefly when I was a student and I was taken by her warmth and genuine interest in meeting different people. Her presence as head of state for most of our lives has been one constant in an ever changing world but I am sure King Charles will carry on her legacy. Someone did say that his coming to the throne was a bit like being a farmers son and only getting hold of the cheque book when you ready to retire. Thankfully that wasn’t the situation in my case.
Not going on holiday for my birthday did have some advantages, I got caught up on a few jobs due to the excellent weather and we had some visitors here and shared some of the amazing things the Lake District has to offer as well as the usual trips round the livestock.
For our next holiday we are heading north to Caithness at the very north east of Scotland to do, what else?,  but look at farms, buy some new breeding and have a rest among friends. It’s amazing how many great friends I have met through social media, my love of photography, livestock and country life has linked us up with people you wouldn’t normally get to meet. So last year we stayed at Heatherlea Croft, the home of Sabrina and George Ross. I first met George about fifteen years ago via his YouTube channel of sheep and wild birds. Since we first met, Sabrina has built up her own flock of Black Cheviots and sells wool and wool products on line. It’s amazing that we both now have partners so inspired by wool. This year we are staying with Joyce Campbell of BBC’s  “This Farming Life” fame, Joyce is a really inspirational woman and also keen on photography and Cheviot sheep. Joyce and Maria have built up a really strong friendship and it will be great to go and see her farm and livestock first hand.

Next month I will let you know how we got on, on our busman’s holiday and our planning for winter.

Maria

We have had a lovely month of visitors at the farm, lots of swimming in the lake and making the most of the weather before the days shorten even more. 

This summer we hosted tour groups at the farm. I was quite apprehensive as we’ve not got the tidiest of farms and I didn’t think we’d have all that much to show people, but they went very well and were actually a real joy. It was an American cruise ship company that that has started to dock in Barrow that got in touch with us and we had ten groups of around twenty people come to the farm over the summer. The groups are young-elderly, if you know what I mean: active in mind but less so in body so they definitely didn’t want to be walking long distances around the farm. So we stopped in one field and they’d ask interesting questions and loved meeting the turkeys, Honeysuckle my Jersey cow, George the horse and a variety of sheep breeds. I’d give them tea and homemade flapjack in the barn and they’d usually buy some soap or wool in the shop too. The best bit was the praise they’d gave me for all the side businesses I run alongside the farm. We all need a pat on the back now and again!

I recently made a visit to the weaving mill that are making my Lake District Tweed. There have been many delays and setbacks due to Covid hitting each of the businesses processing the wool along the way. The weaving mill also struggled with staff being off with Covid and had to prioritise the bigger companies they work for. Because they had companies that threatened to pull the job if not completed for a certain date, I got pushed to the back of the queue.  But we’re almost there and they’re just labelling the throws at the moment. I’ll tell you all about it next month.