Writer Beatrix Potter and how the Herdwicks were saved

Jo McGrath, whose husband Jon Watson is the tenant of Yew Tree Farm once owned by the author, says years ago the Herdwicks had no place in new high productivity agricultural practices. They didn’t bring in money and their wool is worthless; in short, they were more trouble than they were worth.

In recent years, though, people have been rediscovering Herdwicks, leading to a renewed interest from people across the world. Jo has lived at Yew Tree Farm near Coniston - where the Miss Potter movie was filmed starring Renee Zellweger as Beatrix – for the past decade. She started to notice how both she and friends enjoyed simply being with the sheep, sitting in a beautiful field with them on a sunny day. Five years ago friends encouraged her to set it up as a business and the Herdwick Experience was launched.

Since the business started Jo estimates there have been about 7,000 visits, many of them return customers who want to learn about the breed, feed them and simply spend time with a selection of friendly ones who enjoy human contact and cuddles. Among the people who’ve visited recently are BBC’s Countryfile team and TV comedian Susan Calman, giving the business prime time publicity.

Jo says: “I used to go to the field, the children were a lot younger and I needed a bit of space to myself and the internet was poor at the time and the 4G was better in the field. It’s a nice place to be. Then friends came with me and really enjoyed it. It ended up taking up quite a bit of time, which was an issue as I needed to get on with artwork to bring in some money.

 “I didn’t think ‘oh this is a good business idea’. I felt I did not particularly want to use the sheep as entertainment.”

During the Covid lockdowns the business model changed slightly. “It developed a therapeutic side with NHS staff coming over, people who were at the end of their tether. We had families with young autistic men in the family come on a regular basis so it started from that.

“It’s been an organic process. It’s been a real surprise to me, I had no idea how many people passionately love sheep and passionately love Herdwicks. I am really happily surprised how many people want to engage with food producers and want to ask questions and know what’s going on and why,” says Jo, who formerly worked as a countryside ranger and educator. Her background and knowledge is evident when she leads the ‘Experience’, talking about animal welfare, farming practices and the Herdwick breed. “The talk is a really important part of the experience. Without exception when you go into the field people say the talk is really interesting and informative. It started as 20 minutes but has grown into an hour… or more if people are asking questions.”

Three months ago Mel Oddy joined as a business partner. She went on one of the Herdwick Experiences last summer, got chatting with Jo and promptly gave up her job as a people manager for a law firm in Leeds and relocated to Coniston with her husband.  “I fell in love with the Herdwicks and wanted to know more. Since I’ve been here I’ve learnt a lot very quickly,” she says. They have lots of plans for the business including developing the therapy side and also setting it up as a social enterprise. Jo says as she has ADHD the business was unlikely to evolve if she was working by herself.

The Herdwick Experience is the farm’s latest diversification. The farmhouse built in 1690 is now equipped with a four-poster beds and hot tub and is available for holidays; they hold up to 14 weddings a year in their barn built in the 18th century with its beautiful and rare spinning gallery which, until last year, still housed hay, and straw and livestock during the winter months. Jo also paints animal portraits.

The bigger income generator though is the Heritage Meats business run by Jon which sells around 20 Herdwick carcasses a week, home grown and slaughtered in a local abattoir. They sell online, from a butcher’s shop on the farm and also work with a restaurant supplier.  Some chefs still come to the farm to pick up the meat, including Michelin star chef Ryan Blackburn at the Old Stamp House.

Aside from the National Trust tenancy with its 800 acres including Holme Fell and Tarn Hows, they also rent another 400 acres privately, have 1,000 grazing Herdwicks and Jon is in partnership with Gemma Metcalf running the Herdwick Café in Coniston. Jo says the farm has been run the same way for centuries, admitting it may not be a profitable way to live but they do get to live in fantastic surroundings. She says the money raised from the Herdwick Experience (£45 per head) is often used to raise animal welfare standards even higher. “The main driver of the business is the Heritage Meats business, but the way we want to develop the Herdwick Experience would also be quite an important income on the farm,” says Jo.

She credits Beatrix Potter with saving the Herdwicks as she stipulated that every tenant farm had to have a 'Landlord's Flock' of pure Herdwick sheep; Yew Tree has to have 100. “Economically, I would say we would not have them if it was not for her,” she says. 

When Jon became the tenant of the farm with his own commercial cattle and sheep more than 20 years ago he also had to tend to the Herdwicks. “Of the 100 Herdwicks one of the sheep got poorly and was shot and eaten and it changed things. It tasted far better, an integral part of the history of the area and it was being sold for dog meat.”

Now many people are involved in the Herdwick industry – from chefs and textile artists to carpet manufacturers and compost makers. “Not a lot has changed in the valley for hundreds of years; towns have got bigger and houses have extended. We are not a farm in the modern commercial sense. We don't manipulate the soil, instead we are producing food from the landscape and have to use the animals that can deal with it. There are not many breeds that can survive living like this,” she says.  

One thing is for certain, the Lakeland landscape, both geographic and economic, would look very different without the Herdwicks which graze on its tops.