The North York Moors

In the north east of England lies a wild and remote moorland - 550 square miles of windswept heather-clad uplands and deep, sheltered valleys or dales. These are the North York Moors.

Over millennia, this spectacular landscape has been shaped by the elements - by water and ice - and more recently by people.

Remote farmsteads are dotted all across the high country. On Dale Head Farm, the Barraclough family raise tough swaledale and cheviot sheep, animals bred for the moorland life. They can be left out on the hill year-round because over many generations they have built up an intimate knowledge of their patch - each flock is ‘hefted’ to the land.

The flocks are brought down off the moors to the shelter of the dales a couple of times each year - in the spring for lambing and again in the summer to be shorn of their heavy winter coats. The best shearers can clip 300 sheep in a day.