Monk Hall Farm

04/06/2026

Two weeks earlier I found this ewe alone in the field at 2am, quivering and unable to stand - cardinal signs of twin lamb disease or pregnancy toxaemia as it is properly termed. Often fatal for the ewe and unborn lambs you have to act fast.

A twin lamb drench and big subcutaneous injection of calcium saw her make a miraculous recovery, rising from almost dead to noisily demanding extra feed in a matter of hours.

Then, pretty much to the day when she was due, out pop a pair of healthy tup lambs. Hebrideans are such resilient sheep!

13/05/2026

One of the reasons we love our native breed Hebridean sheep is their brilliant mothering instincts. Not once has one of our ewes rejected her lamb. The lambs catch on quickly too - often on their feet and sucking down some colostrum within 5-10 minutes of arriving in this world. That's just the start they need when you farm 1000 feet up in the hills!

01/05/2026

Lambing is well underway and we seem to have picked a great week of weather, which is definitely making the sleep deprivation more manageable!

This is one of our first time mothers with a little tup lamb.

02/03/2026

Just over a month ago Daisy surprised us by turning up with a new calf one morning. We knew she was pregnant but thought she was 4-5 months along, not 8-9! We'd completely forgotten about that day in April when the neighbour's bull broke in!

Luckily he's the bull we use anyway and this little one has been a delight. Daisy is such a good mother and has kept her warm and fed despite the winter cold and wet. Our only problem has been how protective she is, which has meant we've had to move them to a different field to keep any walkers on our footpaths safe.

Hopefully Sooty will stay in our herd, many of which can trace their lineages back to Daisy as well.

05/02/2026

I was lucky enough to bag a space on a brilliant course on low stress cattle handling, held yesterday up on the side of Ullswater, courtesy of , and kindly hosted by . After some classroom discussions and a hearty lunch we were soon out in the field putting our learning about the flight zone, point of balance, and loose bunching straight into practice. In threes we moved this bunch of lovely cattle in figures of eight around blue barrels despite them never having met any of us before and without a raised voice or any running around like crazies! Great to catch up with some familiar faces all in the shelter of the snow-topped lakeland fells.

Back on our own farm I've already applied some of the techniques today working around a cow and calf.

07/12/2025

Moving the tups and wethers a few weeks back. Apparently primitive sheep are flighty and always escaping 🤣🤣

26/11/2025

Thank you for the recent enquiries regarding meat orders.

For anyone else who might be interested in putting in an order - we will be delivering Gloucestershire Old Spot Pork mid December ready for the Christmas festivities. Deliveries around Lancashire area only.

All meat will be delivered frozen.

We have the following still available to order:
Pork Shoulder Joint
Pork Leg Joint
Belly pork
Pork steaks
Pork chops (Nearly sold out)
Diced pork
Minced pork
Streaky bacon
Back bacon
Sausages in either Cumberland, Old English or Lincolnshire flavours.

Apologies the Hebridean lamb has already sold out until next year.

Orders will be on a first come first served basis.

If interested, Please msg or email [email protected].

Thanks Helen and Magnus (Monk Hall Farm)

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11/09/2025

Recently spotted on the farm was this Wall Brown enjoying a meal from a cornflower. It joins the list as the 17th butterfly species we've identified here. Every year we seem to be finding more and more diversity and with over 400m of new multi-species native hedgerow planned for planting this winter we hope that trend continues.

07/09/2025

Where did summer go? One minute we'd just started calving and the next the haylage is baled, lambs are weaned, heifers have found a new home, and the hogget boxes have sold out! With the onset of autumn that also means it's time for all things pork.

In a change to recent years, this time we have raised four strapping Gloucestershire Old Spot boys and they look fabulous. As always, our pigs spend their whole time on the farm in a large outdoor paddock where they can root and wallow to their heart's content. Despite the dry weather they've been prolific diggers.

In just under a fortnight we will have the usual range of leg, shoulder and loin joints, chops and steaks, ribs and belly, mince and sausages available for our amazing customers. At £10.50/kg (£5/pk for sausages) this is a little more than the supermarket but you're buying flavour and provenance that is simply unavailable from them. In the words of a previous buyer "It was the best pork I have ever tasted and not just by a little bit - it was head and shoulders above anything else."

Our pork tends to sell out very quickly so if you want to grab a spot on the list please just drop us an email, WhatsApp or direct message with what you would like. Thank you.