The flock is owned and managed by Sue Tyson and her husband Kevin. Daughter Rachel was instrumental in the establishment of the flock and currently has a tenancy on a National Trust farm in nearby Buttermere. Dancing Gate Farm is home to the Derwent Flock and is situated in beautiful, peaceful surroundings in the Lake District below the Skiddaw range, just before the Dodd Wood area, about two miles from Keswick town centre. It has magnificent views towards the Grizedale and Causey Pike ranges, Newlands valley, Borrowdale, Cat Bells, Walla Crag and the Helvellyn range. Our sheep graze on a mixture of lush pasture and marshy fen that make up the flood plain for the river Derwent as it flows from Derwentwater to Bassenthwaite. The Derwent Flock share the farm with Sue and Kev’s commercial sheep and cattle.

The pedigree flock is comprised of seven different British native sheep breeds - each one having their own name and unique personality! Unlike other farms of this size, there is no working dog; instead, the sheep respond to friendly faces with buckets of food or failing that we round them up on foot or with the ATV.

 Sue

Every good team has a great leader and this is Sue. She is chief co-ordinator of the day to day life and running of the Derwent Flock and is a member of the Teeswater Sheep Association Council. When Sue isn’t busy championing the values of our native breeds of sheep in a commercial environment, she also runs the commercial sheep and beef farm and onsite holiday cottage. She has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to sheep and land management which is an asset when it comes to getting the best from our flock. Sue enjoys processing wool and takes great pleasure in producing clean locks and batts for customers to work their magic on. It’s Sue you will speak to if you want to arrange a flock visit.

Rach

Rach is Sue’s daughter and was a founding member of the Derwent Flock. Rach now runs Cragg House Farm at Buttermere with her new partner Alister and with Jacob, where they have their own flock of native Herdwick sheep and some Kerry |Hills and Clun Forests, as well as rare breed goats, pigs and hens. Rach is a Ram Inspector and Judge for the Shetland Sheep Society. Rach produces great content for social media channels and helps in designing marketing materials.

Kev

Kev is Sue’s husband and works alongside her on the farm whilst also running his own business. His particular strengths are operating the variety of machinery that the farm needs to keep everything functioning, fencing to keep the sheep where they are supposed to be, making haylage and silage to keep their belly’s full through winter and maintaining drainage to encourage the best soil conditions possible and boost productivity. We sometimes get lucky and rope Kev into the show ring to help handle the sheep when we have entered too many. His favourite breed are the Teeswaters and his new flock of Coloured Ryelands.

Jacob

Jacob is Rach’s son and grandson of Sue and Kev. From a tiny toddler, he loved spending every day on the farm playing in the mud and just generally making a mess and keeping us all smiling. Now they have their own farm in Buttermere, Jacob is the proud owner of an ever expanding Rare Breed poultry flock from which he sells his eggs and breeding birds. His entrepreneurial skilss are developing with the advent of a small Farm Honesty shop which he loves to be in charge of.