HOLLINS FARM

ENNERDALE

• THE FARM
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• ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES
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• VISITORS

HOLLINS FARM in Ennerdale is run by the Rawling family including William, his wife Louise and their son, Sam. 

The farm is located in the Ennerdale Valley in the North West Lake District. It is a high fell farm with Herdwick sheep and beef suckler cows grazing land rising to over 2,800 feet.

William Rawling has a number of roles as well as being a working farmer.  He acts as Chairman of the Cumbria Farmers’ Network, is Secretary of Ennerdale Show, Vice Chairman of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association and a member of the Federation of Cumbria Commoners.

HISTORY

The Rawlings have occupied Hollins farm since at least the 17th century and have been renowned breeders of Herdwick sheep since the late 19th century. 

Although the steading (farmhouse) is in the Kelton township of Lamplugh Parish, the holding is now a large composite farm operating in Ennerdale and Kinniside. It has private land on Ennerdale fell and uses common rights on Kinniside common in respect of three farms.

LOCATION

© Copyright Louise Rawling, Ennerdale

In the 1920s this was the only farm in Ennerdale that was unwilling to sell its fell land to the Forestry Commission during the great afforestation of the valley – a threat to the landscape that led to the formation of Friends of the Lake District. The farm has subsequently come to an arrangement with the Forestry Commission and swapped land for a greater area on Great Borne.

TERRAIN

The farm ranges from marginal enclosed pasture land in the valley bottom, rising to fells of over 2,800 feet high. The fell land includes an area of open grazing on white fell, heather fell and rocky, boulder strewn areas. Croasdale Beck at Hollins has significant natural woodland cover in a valley dominated by coniferous planting.

SIZE OF THE FARM

The main steading at Ennerdale has 200 ha of lower ground of which 35 ha is inbye pastureland used for silage making for the cattle enterprise. There is also 200 ha of privately owned fell land in Ennerdale.  At Kinniside, there is 50 ha of inbye land with common rights on the fell for 1,300 sheep and followers. Unusually for a hill farm in Cumbria, around 6ha of land are cropped to make arable silage.

LIVESTOCK & NUMBERS

The farm has around 1,200 Herdwick sheep and 1,000 lowland ewes.  There is a suckler cow enterprise with 70 continental cross suckler cows and followers.

GRAZING & CONSERVATION

Hollins farm is in the Lake District Environmentally Sensitive Area scheme and has a Wildlife Enhancement Scheme agreement with Natural England on an area of SSSI. This agreement restricts sheep numbers to conserve the vegetation including a particularly fine stand of heather around Clews Gill.