Success at Countryside Live

Somehow time passes and I haven't got round to posting about countryside live!
Daughter entered the young handler class and the judge made them swap sheep! So here she is holding a Kerry Hill.

As often happens she wasn't paying enough attention to the proceedings so wasn't placed!

In the showing classes we took the Portlands in the Hill and Heath section and came 4th in the Group of 3 class.

We then took the Shetlands in the Primitive section. I was really pleased that our Shetland Shearling Ewe Highfield Gloria came first in her class and was the the overall Primitive Champion. Gloria is the twin sister of Gabriel who won the champion at York - more winning offspring from Highfield Daniel and Brae Pepper!

We also got a 3rd and 4th in the Ewe class, a 4th in the ewe lamb class. Daughter got a 3rd for her group of 3 with the judge commenting it was nice to see 3 patterned Shetlands.
The following day we went into the interbreed but didn't get a prize.

Son had fun holding a chick which he thought was very cute!

My stall was next to some very noisy heritage turkeys! but at least they drew people to the stall!

All in all a really enjoyable and successful weekend!

Come and see us at Countryside Live

The Sheep, my stall and I will be at Countryside Live at the Harrogate showground this weekend. Follow link for more details www.countrysidelive.co.uk

We went today and set up the stall in the RBST part of the massive sheep marquee and penned the sheep up. I will try and post pictures over the weekend.

Champion Shetland at York

At the Weekend we took some sheep to the York Rare Breed Show and Sale. Much to my delight my Shearling ram Highfield Gabriel became the Champion Shetland and went on to be Reserve Primitive Champion! Picture below of the fella in question. Yes he is covered in sawdust - I had picked lots off, but couldn't get rid of all of it!
Unfortunately prices in the sale were not great so Gabriel didn't sell - he is for sale privately if anyone is interested. He has a lovely temperament, good wool, compact shape. He has been Society Approved, his pedigree can be viewed on the Shetland Sheep website www.shetland-sheep.org.uk (click on registrations - online flock book - type in his name)

We also have other rams for sale.

Dates and Events

I have added a new page to right that gives the dates of events I will be attending. These include the pop-up Butchers shop events we hold once a month at home, where we sell all the meat products from our sheep and pigs. The textiles are also available then by request.

Other regular events are my stall at the York Farmers Market. This is currently in the Shambles Market in York.

Other events listed are one off craft fairs etc.

Etsy Shop opened

I am very excited, I have just opened an Etsy shop to sell my textile art. Please do visit it to see what I do and hopefully purchase something truly original! My Etsy shop name is Highfield Textiles.

Departures and arrivals

Last weekend we went to the Melton Mowbray Rare Breed Sale. We took 5 sheep to sell, 4 Shetland shearling ewes and a Shetland shearling tup. We sold all the ewes but the tup didn't make his reserve so he came home again!

I entered various classes in the Shetland Sheep Society craft competition and won the cup for the best craft exhibit! Very pleased. Below is a pic of the winning item, my cardigan in 2 ply laceweight yarn.

While we were away on holiday 2 of our chickens died so we bought two new ones at Melton Sale. They are young Buff Sussex hens - pics below. Hoping they are good layers as most of the rest seem to have stopped at the moment!

Talks

I have updated the list of talks I can give to local and regional groups about my textile work and about the sheep etc. Please see the talks page in the list to the right for details. I have added a new talk for 2017 about the embellished patchwork pieces I am currently working on.