About Us
In between being a mum to my 2 little ones Elsie and Oliver, I also care for our 70 sheep, 11 guinea pigs, 2 dogs and Ida the shetland pony. I really enjoy working with the wool from our sheep and trying to make it more profitable. All the fleeces are different and finding what purpose suits and works for them is great fun. There was a time when we discarded the fleeces from our sheep and the main focus was on breeding pet lambs but after having my daughter Elsie in 2015 my own feelings towards breeding the sheep and selling their lambs greatly changed and I realised I no longer wanted to do this and I no longer felt it was the right thing to be doing. After being inspired by seeing what wonderful things could be made from a smelly raw sheep's fleece I got hands-on and threw myself in too these old traditional ways of working with this versatile natural fiber - as opposed to discarding the fleeces or selling them on for a pittance in their raw state. I got completely hooked and found this far more rewarding than breeding and selling lambs. I love every process from caring for the sheep each and every day to shearing them with traditional hand shears to washing the raw fleeces myself and sorting through them. I love the feel of the wool and seeing it transform on its journey from my sheep's back to something completely different. My aim is to make each sheep's fleece at least sustain the sheep themselves and hopefully in the future they might support my own family as well. I don't have any desire to turn a big profit and be rich. All we want is to be able to sustain ourselves and our animals so we can continue to live here and watch our children grow up and value this beautiful little slice of the world.
My Story...
I wasn't born into farming. I grew up in a regular semi in a town called Dronfield nestled in-between Sheffield and Chesterfield. As a small child, I absolutely loved animals and drawing pictures of them. We had a back garden full of guinea pigs, rabbits and eventually a pygmy goat called Pixie. I don't think we were very popular with our neighbours... Pixie was probably the catalyst to where I am now, she became a big part of the family and soon me, my brother and my mum became vegetarians. We moved to our smallholding in August 2006 and bought another pygmy goat, 2 pigs, and 3 Jacob sheep. The sheep flock gradually expanded and took a special place in my heart. Owning a lot of animals over the years and living in a farming community I am fully aware of how cruel nature can be. Where there is life there is always death. You witness this all the time in farming. I always knew that traditional farming, constant breeding of animals and eating meat just isn't something I want to do. I have always tried a different approach to keeping sheep which started out with selling their lambs as pets. As time went by I found this more stressful and unrewarding, even more so when I became a mum myself. Then I started working with wool and selling my creations. I found this very rewarding and decided to follow that path. It has enabled me to give a loving home to our sheep where I can enjoy shepherding, breed a few lambs, and be creative and artistic at the same time... perfect.
Contact Us
Send your enquiry using the contact form and I will get back to you asap. You can also get in touch via our Facebook page and Instagram @patchworksheep if you prefer. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have - about the sheep, items for sale, or commissions - I will do my best to help.
