MILLBECK FARM

GREAT LANGDALE

THE FARM

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

VISITORS

VISITORS

Millbeck is one of the most visited farms in the Lake District. About 750,000 people (some with their dogs) walk through the farm every year.

Millbeck Farm offers a warm welcome to all visitors, and seeks to work with them to conserve and enhance the farm environment and its precious livestock. Please keep your dogs on a lead at all times and follow the footpath routes proposed in the map below.

RECREATIONAL FACILITIES

The farm hosts outdoor groups (eg Impact Development Training, and Brathay) for Ghyll Scrambling and Rock Climbing.

ACCESS

There are many footpaths through Millbeck Farm and on the common where livestock graze. Please follow the footpaths marked on the map.

NOTE TO VISITORS

Herdwick Sheep & Dogs

The livestock, especially the Herdwick Sheep, have been carefully bred and developed over many years and have learnt to ‘heaf’ (keep to a specific area of the common) on the terrain through which visitors walk. It does not take much to disturb these heafing patterns, and the result is anxious sheep, and an anxious farmer who has to put in extra hours of time and effort to re-gather sheep that have strayed.

Throughout 2006, there were, on average, one reported incident a week of sheep worrying by a dog. Sheep can die of stress. They can also be easily wounded and sometimes killed. The loss of a sheep is not only the loss of £80 of income, it is also the loss of a heath-going and well-bred animal from which good replacements can be drawn.

Farmers love their own dogs and the last thing they would want to do is shoot a visitor’s dog. But they do have a legal right to do this, if the dog is out of control amongst a flock.

HOSPITALITY

B&B: 6 beds with 80% year round occupancy.

Self-Catering:
1 unit sleeps 6
1 unit sleeps 3;
both have 80% year round occupancy.

GET IN TOUCH

If you would like to have more information about this farm please contact Eric Taylforth:

Tel: 015394 37364
Email: millbeckfarm@btinternet.com

or visit our website: www.millbeckfarm.co.uk

Drystone Walls

The drystone walls on Millbeck Farm have been built over hundreds of years and are important for stock control and year-round management of grazing. They are an invaluable asset to this farm and to the Lake District as a whole. These walls have to be maintained by the farmer and his family. In 2006, there were 8 wall gaps caused by visitors; the average wall gap size (once it has been stripped out and re-founded) is 5 metres and the cost of undertaking this work is at least £30 a metre; this makes a total cost to the farmer of £1250 which has to come out of his own resources.

dry stone wall

Walls falling down and being re-built.

Working together, the farmer and visitors can do much to prevent this damage.

By following the footpaths set out in the map below, you will be able to conserve this renowned heritage for the farm and for other visitors who follow in your footsteps.