Country diary: the ups and downs of buying a retired shepherd's flock

Ingleton, Yorkshire Dales: What will happen when it's me who can't walk the length of the farm to gather the sheep?I haven't been to Ingleton since the 1980s, but the rocky landscape still inspires as much awe and wonder in me now as it did when I was a girl. We would come here on school trips to crawl into a cave or abseil down a pothole, but this time I'm here to discuss buying sheep from a retiring shepherd.It is a difficult thing to retire and sell a flock of sheep, and it's a difficult thing to buy one. I felt guilty for buying all of them, not some. And it brings to mind your own limited time as guardian of your farm. What will happen when I can no longer walk the length of the farm to gather sheep? Will I retire, or simply carry on doing what I can? Is the only realistic exit strategy death? Continue reading...