BURNTHWAITE FARM
WASDALE HEAD
BURNTHWAITE FARM has been occupied by farmers Andrew and Gillian Race, since 2003 when they began their tenancy.
HISTORY
The lands of Wasdale Valley have been occupied and farmed for around a 1000 years. Burnthwaite
Farm was originally three farms which were still in existence as late as 1849. The National Trust purchased
Burnthwaite Farm in 1970.
© Copyright Louise Rawling, Ennerdale
SIZE OF THE FARM
The total area of the farm is 1222 acres of which 1096 is fell grazing.
LIVESTOCK & NUMBERS
The Livestock is made up of a heafed flock of 450 Herdwick ewes & 10 suckler cows. In the summer, the whole flock grazes on the fell (this is the maximum allowed); in the winter this is reduced to 250.
Heafing is based on keeping self-maintained flocks of breeding ewes that are accustomed to graze particular areas. The sheep remain on their ‘home’ ground and do not need to be kept within fenced or walled boundaries. This territorial or homing instinct is passed on from ewe to lamb.
The Burnthwaite Farm flock escaped the catastrophe of foot and mouth disease in 2001 and, so, is a flock which has been heafed to this terrain for many centuries. It is a precious asset.
The Cumbria Fells and Dales Leader + programme is based at Voluntary Action Cumbria and is part-financed by the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund of the European Union and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. This project is part of a trans-national project with Gévaudan Leader + Programme, Lozère, France.
© Copyright 2008 Cumbria Hill Farms