Welcome to Barcombe Romneys. I bought 40 Romney gimmers (female sheep a year and a half old) in July 2015. I keep them at my Aunt and Uncle's farm in Spithurst, Barcombe. They are retired farmers who had dairy and then beef cattle but have not farmed for several years. Another shepherd kept Lleyn sheep on the farm for a while but it is now occupied by my little flock. The farm has never had any ch
emicals on it. It is surrounded by beautiful, deciduous bluebell woods, spliced with thick, deep, wildlife rich hedges and dotted with many ancient oak trees. Every day I see something different; hedgehogs, milkmaids, orchids, wild violets, foxes, rabbits, deer, bats, songbirds, geese and I could (and will) go on and on. All these things are deeply important to me. I grew up a mile from this farm with a strong appreciation of the countryside, a love of wildlife and a passion for treating animals with respect, kindness and patience. I started working with sheep at 18 years old, went to Sparsholt College to study Agriculture and then went on to work as a shepherd on a few different farms before taking the Sheep Course at Kirkley Hall at the age of 30 and falling in love with the wilds of Northumberland and learning about proper sheep dog handling. From there I went to work on a farm near Steyning with 3000 head of Romney ewes. This opened my eyes to the wonderful Romney sheep and the joys of lambing outdoors. So much easier, cleaner and more natural than traditional indoor lambing sheds (and we all go to bed at night!)
After then going on to work at the two extremes of Close Shepherd Conservation Grazing (with Hebridean sheep on the Ashdown Forest) to pedigree Texel farming (breeding pedigree rams and ewes and preparing animals for shows and sales) I decided to follow my heart and put everything I had learned over the last 20 years in to a flock of my own. I took the scary leap from being an employee to being the owner of my own flock and small business. Obviously 40 sheep isn't going to make me rich so I will still be doing this and that an the side including other people's lambing. Although these 40 sheep are mine I am far from alone in this venture. I have my dogs Dot and Rizzo. I have my Dad and my Uncle Jon who have built my handling pens out of old gates and frequently mow, roll, build things and look at the sheep. I have lovely supportive family and friends, including my sister Sally who drew my logo and my friend Piet who put it in some fab graphics. And I have my wonderful fiance Alex who comes to help me with the sheep at ever opportunity he can. On December 5th 2015 I borrowed 2 Southdown rams from Susan and Justin Harmer and put them in with my sheep for over a month. My first lamb was born 3 days early on Thursday 26th April! I have now got 62 lambs and they have been fabulous. I am so happy with them. The lambs will all be eventually for meat and sold directly to local customers and I shall hopefully also be producing knitting wool from the beautiful Romney ewe fleeces. Please visit my website for further details. Thanks for visiting.
