A fabulous yarn from The Little Grey Sheep.

Well Manor Farm is nestled in the rolling hills on the Surrey, Hampshire borders. A small family farm we are committed to ethical and sustainable farming. Investing in reinvigorating the flora and fauna on the farm though careful, low intensity farming.

The love of our farm and our girls is evident in the quality of our yarn.

Happy Sheep means quality fibre!

We had a problem.

After Susie shearing, and us both hand sorting over 400 fleeces from our fine wool flocks, we ended up with a batch of fibre which did not meet the minimum 75mm length required for worsted spinning. But what to do? we couldn’t bring ourselves not to use this luxurious, lustrous fine wool, but it couldn’t be added to our current yarn. So as my Nan use to say, ‘When in doubt hoard it’ So we stored it.

Susie, an experienced shepherdess and award winning shearer, spends the summer months shearing small flocks sheep, concerned as she saw so much of this beautiful fibre going to waste. These farmers had small flocks, which were truly loved and cared for, but were not producing enough fleece to warrant it being spun.

A plan was hatched, to work with smallholders, and produce a truly traditional yarn bearing the name of the county we call home. It was to be, woollen spun in Yorkshire utilising the craftsmanship and heritage from the home of the British textile industry. Hampshire is a scrumptious lofty yarn, with good stitch definition. Once blocked, the fabric blooms, and has a silky quality which only improves with wear. Just right for a snuggly cardigan or a colour work project. Our colour palette echoes the landscape of our home county, and works in harmony with the natural fibre rather than trying to obliterate it with saturated colour.

Why love us and invest in our yarn?

Our farm has been here since Tudor times. Historically low intensive mixed farming was the best way to keep disease down and biodiversity up. Preserving the countryside and native wild life through traditional farming practices continues to be our priority to this day. Sheep have been part of this historic landscape for the thousands of years, they are integral link in the biodiversity of the farms flora and fauna.

From lambing, making the hay we feed, the straw the girls bed down on, sorting the fibre to the hand dyeing the yarn, all is done on the farm.

Natural;

Only pure virgin wool is used, with a tad of local Alpaca, no chlorine chemical treatments, no super wash wool just as nature intended.

Each part of the process relies on artisans expertise, it takes years of training to produce our yarn, but it takes something else as well, passion. Everyone involved, is nuts about producing the best of British yarn from Susie shearing, Matt washing and Michael spinning. Lastly but not least me hand dyeing every skein for your enjoyment.

Hand Wash 15°C, Cool Iron, Do Not Bleach, Do Not Tumble Dry, Dry Flat