Och aye, our newest exhibit has just opened, and its stars are all the way from Bonnie Scotland. 

Our new Sheep Walkthrough is filled with Shetland Sheep whose roots go back over 1000 years. It is thought they were brought to the Shetland Islands by Viking settlers.

Shetland Sheep are a small, calm breed of sheep. They are the smallest of the British breeds, very hardy, easy lambers with the highest quality fine fleece and a gentle nature.

The walkthrough will form part of the longest continuous animal walkthrough in the country. The walkthrough starts with our rabbits, then continues to the sheep, guinea pigs, wallabies and Patagonian Mara. And from Spring 2020 it will join up to our new lemur and lorikeet walkthroughs.

Feed them!

There will be a pellet dispenser at the start of the sheep walkthrough which contains the correct daily amount of food for the sheep. That does mean the pellets are restricted and on a first come first served basis, we don’t want them fattening up too much! 1 portion costs just £1.

Hobbledown’s assistant curator, and former shepherd, Dolores Nicholson said: “Hobbledown has lots of exotic animals like camels and antelope, but we also have lots of traditional farm animals that are equally important to us.

“Sheep are a wonderful species, they are surprisingly intelligent with impressive memory and recognition skills.”

*Due to animal welfare reasons the sheep will need to be removed from the walkthrough if there is continuous heavy rain and the ground becomes too waterlogged.