Anyway onto the important bit - sheep! Featuring other animals too. On the Saturday we went to Adam Henson's Farm Park which is a mix of rare breed sheep, rabbits, cows, chickens, goats and an educational centre for school groups and children.
I discovered bantams look like a squashed version of real chickens when they sit down.
But are so fluffy when they stand up. Look at those legs!
Goats will only pose for photos if there's a handful of food just underneath the camera. And that my Garthenor cabled hat is very warm!
Herdwick sheep are very friendly and incredibly soft to touch. They are going on my sheep wishlist (everyone has sheep wishlist right? Right?!)
More sheep but I can't remember the breed. Soft and friendly although mainly for the food we were giving them.
We finished the afternoon with a sheep show which explained how sheep have developed since early farmers a thousand years ago due to breeding, Roman and Viking invasions and what we needed them for.such as wool or meat. Can you guess which are the Roman and Viking sheep from the names?
In the corner of the barn were two gated areas full of fleeces. I was very tempted to get one but the thought of cycling it all the way back to the B&B was too much even for me. Although the farm park is very knowledgeable about sheep, they didn't seem that aware of the uses for the fleece. Hence why it was labelled 'wool' rather than fleece. The different breeds would have been interesting to spin but as I haven't bought fleece before I had no idea what I needed to look for. I'm going to go back once I have learnt a bit more about fleece, staple length and spinning in general.
It was a fantastic weekend! My legs were pretty sore by the end but the cooked breakfasts and cream teas certainly helped cure our aches and pains.
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