As a shepherd, I know we have not ‘sheepwrecked’ Britain’s landscape

My family have been farming in Cumbria for at least 500 years. I stayed on my uncle’s hill farm in the school holidays as a child, helping out with lambing time and feeding the calves. Six years ago my husband and I bought a small hill farm in the Rusland Valley, a quiet area of the Lake District between Coniston Water and Windermere, and it is from here that I now breed rough fell sheep, a breed native to Cumbria, along with fell ponies and dexter cattle, and some rare breed sheep such as North Ronaldsay, Ouesssant and Hebridean.

The work I do on the farm depends upon the season, but every day I walk around all of my animals to check they are doing well. My son and I are building up a flock of rough fell sheep, one we can show with pride at agricultural shows, and produce high-quality stock that we can sell for breeding. My son’s involvement is crucial, as breeding such a flock is more than a one-generation project. In the past six years we haven’t been able to pay ourselves any wages, but have covered our animal costs. If the price of lamb doesn’t pick up this year, we are unlikely to make enough money to pay for feed and medication for our ewes over the winter.

The land is grazed rotationally by sheep, cattle and ponies to ensure it is not poached. There are areas of short and long grass to support ground nesting birds and waders. We have red deer, dormice, tawny and barn owls, hares and voles, adders and slow worms and a rich variety of insects and fungi in our fields. Cattle dung helps to support the insect population, and the cattle germinate seeds from the hay they are fed in winter. Hay seeds also provide food for birds over winter.

Each day we try to do one hour of walling. The walls around our fields are liable to fall during spells of bad weather, and as I replace each stone, it is always on my mind that these stones will have fallen and been replaced by several generations of hands over the 500 or so years they have stood there. The current farmhouse was built in 1565, and has been continuously occupied since then.

Generations of families have worked this land, and have, like me, watched closely the interaction of our Cumbrian breeds of animals and our environment. The animals have developed to be strong and sturdy, and to thrive upon the poor grasses which we have here. The grasses and the rich variety of flora in our hay meadows will ensure the health of our animals. The animals and the environment are mutually dependant upon each other. The animals have evolved to suit the environment, and the farmers working away silently like myself have created the Lake District as we know it today that thousands of visitors love.

These generations of hard work and involvement with the landscape are now having to be defended against some environmentalists, such as George Monbiot, who has described “the Lake District as sheepwrecked”. In my opinion the land is not wrecked by sheep – generations of sheep and farmers have created the environment here together. It is not in our interest to wreck our land with excess sheep, my farm averages around two sheep per acre, and I am preserving it as best I can for the next generation.

There are some areas near our farm that have “rewilded” themselves where people did not have the heart to restock their sheep after the foot and mouth outbreak. These are now wildernesses of bracken and brambles, and I have never seen a single “eco tourist” up there among the impenetrable vegetation. The views over Coniston Water have been obscured; although it is common land, it is now largely inaccessible.

The Lake District has not been “wrecked” by sheep and farmers, it has been created by them, through generations of hard work and often for very little reward. The native animals and our Cumbrian farmers are hefted to our land, and we can only hope that the bid for world heritage status for the Lake District will help to raise the status of our native animals, our farming families and the quality products that they produce here in Cumbria.