Lambing and spring at Borough Farm
Rare Devon & Cornwall Longwools, bottle-fed lambs, and why spring is the farm at its most alive.
Our flock is something genuinely rare: Devon & Cornwall Longwools, one of Britain's most endangered native breeds, with fleece that grows in long, lustrous ringlets. Spring is their season.
The flock
Guests young and old are always delighted to help feed the lambs on the bottle when there are orphans to raise — or just to lean on the gate while the field finds its feet again. The flock is shorn in early summer by Chris from the next village, and even the fleece offcuts help retain moisture in the garden pots.
Everything else wakes up too
Snowdrops start the flower year in January; by spring the long lay meadows are moving with insect life, the hens are laying hard, and the dawn chorus arrives early through canvas and barn window alike. Badgers, foxes, hedgehogs, deer and bats share this corner of Devon with us — the nature journals in each stay fill up fastest in April and May.
When to come
Lambing dates shift each year with the weather and the flock — if seeing the lambs matters to you, ask Julia what the season is doing before you book.
More from the farm
From the orchard: juice, cordial and jam
Elderflower in June, apples in autumn, eggs all year — how the farm feeds its guests.
Walks from the farm gate
You don't need to drive to walk well here — field paths, quiet lanes and Dartmoor's western edge, straight from the yard.
The Dairy
Level throughout, with a wet room and easterly light.
The Shippon
A roll-top bath, and the hills through the window.
The Yard
The courtyard barn, with room for a dog.
The Granary
The only stay with The Loft to itself.
Great Links
One yurt, its own field and its own wood-fired hot tub.