Stoneybeck is a hill farm in the strictest sense. The lowest field sits at 950 feet and the highest grazings touch 1,650. Hannah and Will run 600 Swaledale ewes and a small flock of Hebrideans for conservation grazing on a neighbouring SSSI.
The lambs are born outdoors in late April once the worst of the weather has passed. They are never housed and never fed concentrates. From weaning through to finishing they eat nothing but the herbs and grasses of the hill.
The Pearces work with the local National Park authority on heather restoration. They believe the right kind of grazing, in the right kind of pattern, is what keeps the moorland alive.
“Our job is to leave the hill in better shape than we found it. The lambs are the by-product.”