Handing over a flock
Borrowdale is looking damp: clouds drape the fells, and rain is drenching the fields and yards. You could say this is a typical day in Borrowdale, but in fact, there’s history in the making. The tenancy of one of the National Trust farms here is changing hands - and that doesn’t happen very often. It’s a significant change, and one that ensures the continuation of the cultural heritage of commoning. Forty years ago, Stanley Jackson took on the tenancy of Nook Farm. Today, he’s handing it on to the next generation: Craig Fearon, who’s just 25, is stepping in.
The National Trust’s hill farms in Cumbria, which are looked after by tenant farmers, mostly all come with hefted flocks of Herdwick sheep and with the rights for these sheep to graze on specific commons. Each farm has its ‘landlord’s flock’, and tenant after tenant, the flock is passed on; the bloodlines here are strong, and long. Handing on a farm, then, is not a case just of handing over a set of keys - it also involves handing over the flock. Rob and I feel enormously privileged to be here to witness this handover.
When we arrive we join a fairly large group of people in a barn, taking shelter from the rain. We’re among familiar faces - people who we’ve come to know over the past ten years through our work with commoners here in Cumbria. The first person I chat with is David Bland - we once walked together up to Grisedale Tarn, to help gather sheep in from the flanks of Helvellyn. And he tells me something I didn’t know - David was the tenant at Nook Farm before passing it on to Stanley: he was born here, grew up here, and farmed here before moving away to Thirlmere.
Others here are Anthony Hartley of Turner Hall Farm in the Duddon Valley, Joe Relph, former tenant of Yew Tree Farm (which is right next door to Nook Farm), Peter Bland of Knott Houses in Grasmere (and one of David Bland’s sons), and Mark Potter. Craig’s father, Gavin, is here too - he farms just up the valley in Grange - and of course the ‘landlords’ are here: Jez Westgarth and David Towler from the National Trust. Stanley’s wife Carole is making sure everyone has tea and something to eat. There are flapjacks, enormous scones, and sweet chocolate and caramel shortbreads laid out on the table.
The day has a gentle feel: friendliness, relaxed chatter and familiarity. The commoning community is a close one, with people connected by the land their flocks graze, the sheep they exchange, and the support they give one another. This gathering today is testimony to that - old friends, spanning generations, working together. Today is a day of endings and beginnings. Stanley and Carole, who took this place on in 1982 when Carole was 23, moving on, and Craig just starting out - he may well have forty years ahead of him here.
Counting Sheep
Someone calls time and all the farmers walk out of the barn. The flock has been gathered in from the intake fields and the fells to the inbye land, and they are now collected next to the yard in a series of pens. Like every farmyard, Nook Farm has a well-thought-out gate system, so sheep can be sorted and counted. The Herdwicks have already been sorted into age groups and the first to be urged into the narrow race, and counted, are the hoggs (last year’s lambs), which are dark brown-black with white faces. Then come the shearlings or twinters (two winters old), which are greyer in colour. Then the ewes come through, separated into those that are geld (with no lamb), those with single lambs and those carrying twins. The sheep are marked with an array of colours on head, neck or back, which show their condition.
All the sheep here today are Herdwicks. In fact, almost every landlord’s flock on tenanted National Trust hill farms here in Cumbria carries Herdwicks. It’s a tradition that’s a fundamental part of the cultural heritage of the Lakeland commons. Flocks from different farms can graze the same commons, but each flock is ‘hefted’ to a particular area, with the ewes passing knowledge on to the lambs: where best to graze, where to shelter, and which trods to follow. Herdwick flocks have been passed on from farmer to farmer on National Trust farms for well over a century, and fell farmers have passed on flocks for many, many years before that: Herdwick sheep have been in the Cumbrian hills since the twelfth century.
There’s a gentleness and confidence among the men who stand among the sheep, count the animals when they rush past, then send them back to count again. The dogs respond deftly to commands, but apart from the whistles and calls it’s a quiet process with intervals of chat, and occasional laughter.
Handing over the flock
Nook Farm’s landlord’s flock should be a specific number and condition, and everyone present witnesses this count. Some sheep are checked - a feel of their legs, and an inspection in their mouths - and the flock is in fine fettle. This was never in doubt, as Stanley is well known as a good farmer. Traditionally, a tenant is expected to pass a flock, and a farm, on in as good a state as it was received. Today’s sheep are looking great, and will look even better as the weather warms, and they begin to thrive on fresh grass.
With the count complete, everyone heads back into the barn. Coats and trousers, noses and hands are dripping wet, and the hot tea and cakes are very welcome. Among the gathering, there are two representatives of the outgoing tenant to witness the passing of the flock back to the National Trust, and two to confirm the transfer of the flock, before the new tenant signs.
The slightly soggy formal papers are signed, one by one. No grand ceremony - papers laid out on the same table as tea and cakes, and each person taking their turn. Finally, Craig makes his mark. ‘I guess that’s official then!’
Three Generations of Nook Farm tenants: David Bland (left), Stanley Jackson (right), Craig Fearon (centre)
It’s a big moment, but in the characteristic style of commoners, the event is understated, and it’s mostly about practicalities, and the next task - getting the sheep away from the yard and back to where they should be. ‘It’ll maybe feel different tomorrow,’ Craig says. ‘I’ll wake up and they’ll all be mine.’
The Nook Farm ewes are due to start lambing on April 12th, just 6 days after the handover. Craig will be hitting the ground running. He comes with plenty of experience, but will be on a steep learning curve as he takes the reins here. He’ll be looking after the farm, the flock, and the land around him, as best as he can before passing it on to the next generation.
For now, though, it’s about settling in and dealing with the year ahead. As the year unfolds, Craig will be sharing insights through this Our Upland Commons project. We’ll be stopping by throughout the year to see how he’s getting on.