When I received a phone call recently from Brian Hogan, I was surprised and delighted to hear that in fact there ARE Shetland Sheep in Shropshire!  On his small-holding, a few miles outside Shrewsbury, we were to find a lovely herd of these tiny sheep grazing and generally being sheepish …. and best of all, he was looking for somewhere to market his lambs this November.    Us Us ! we cried … and promptly made an appointment to trot down there and meet the sheep in question for ourselves.

The sheep are very, very small.  They are also very, very woolly! and having visited the Shetlands myself last year, I can completely understand the need for all that lovely warm fleece!  We inspected the herd, met the lambs and ewes and then also the rams – about half a dozen of up and coming youngsters complete with rounded horns and a very curious nature – but luckily for myself and Rachel, also possessing a very sweet temperament.

Meeting and Greeting taken care of, we then talked sheep with Mr and Mrs Hogan and have made arrangements to take delivery of about a dozen Shetland lambs in November ….. Keep a weather eye open for them appearing on our website!  In the meantime, if you don’t mind us dressing up some lamb as mutton, you can try our Herdwick Mutton

Thanks to Andrew Writer for the image used

Have you ever seen a Shetland Sheep or know of a rare breed near you?  Please leave your comment below, we’d love to hear!