VISITORS to this year’s Grasmere Sports will be given the opportunity to meet the shepherds and the sheep that have shaped the landscape of the Lake District World Heritage Site.

A popular annual event in the Lake District calendar, Grasmere Sports takes place this Sunday, August 25.

This year a partnership between several organizations and local farmers will see a special attraction take place called The Fellgather Event.

Across the Lake District several times each year, shepherds work together on the high fells to gather their sheep and bring them down to the lower pastures. This is an age-old tradition combining unique skills and knowledge of the terrain.

This year at Grasmere Sports, with support from the Lake District’s Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, members of the public will be given the opportunity to meet the shepherds and their sheep.

Several practical demonstrations will take place throughout the day explaining the importance, value and benefit that farming brings to the Lake District and Cumbria.

The event is being spearheaded by The Farmer Network in partnership with the Lake District National Park Authority, The National Trust, The Foundation for Common Land and the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association. As well as practical demonstrations, the organizations will offer an insight into how farming can be balanced with nature to provide sustainable farm production whilst improving the natural environment in years to come.

Adam Day, Managing Director of the Farmer Network, said: “Events like this are a great way to engage with our buying public. So often they are blown away with what they learn, and they leave with a different mindset and opinion on the landscapes they cherish and the sheep that help in part to create it.”

Displays will take place throughout the day including traditional hand shearing, wool spinning and felting, and a sheep show explaining the finer points of preparing for and judging the iconic Herdwick Sheep.

Claire Foster, Farming Officer for the Lake District National Park, said: “We will be talking about the link between hill farming, food, landscape, nature and the cultural heritage that it supports.”