Hello all and welcome to my new blog page
My name is Val Grainger and together with my husband Pete and sons George, Bertie and Charlie live on a 9 acre holding on the northern scarp of the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, of which 7 is ancient broadleaf woodland, we also rent about 25 acres of grassland nearby. I keep pedigree sheep, mainly Dorset Downs, and also a small flock of Shetland sheep renowned for their fine wool.
Both these breeds of sheep are rare or minority and the Dorset Down is the traditional breed of this area of Somerset and was once numerous with big flocks grazing the hills, downs and valleys of Dorset and southern Somerset, often penned at night into traditional wattle hurdle sheepfolds and watched over by a shepherd with his traditional cast iron hut. We also grow veg which is a challenge as we are 300ft up on a north facing slope of greensand becoming clay further down!We keep hens for eggs and from time to time raise pigs for pork and bacon. We try to run our holding along permaculture principles.
Pete is a qualified tree surgeon and also an ecologist, he runs a countryside management business. I run my business The Woolly Shepherd from home, check my website for more details Woolly Shepherd