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The 'Cotswold Lion' is the most venerable of the UK's large sheep. Not only was the fleece used for the British Army greatcoat, but it also provided the foundation for the once-thriving Cotswold textile industry, now sadly confined mostly to museums. Cotswold is one of the oldest English breeds and is said to have come to Britain with the Romans. These hardy, golden white long lustre-woolled sheep are effectively responsible for the smooth landscapes of Gloucestershire! Their wool makes a fine, soft worsted-spun knitting yarn or a strong, woollen-spun hardwearing rug or throw. As it takes dye well, it features among our coloured yarns. Cotswolds are now bred in relatively small numbers so the breed is classified as a 'minority' breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust

A large, attractive hill sheep from the Pennines with great curly horns and a fine fleece with kemp which makes it particularly suitable for thicker yarns, outerwear and accessories. As the kemp does not take dye easily, the results from our dye plant are particularly interesting. Despite the name, the sheep were not developed to graze woodland. Like most sheep they will happily browse, and damage, bark and saplings. The least problematic on this front are Shropshire and Southdown sheep which are marketed as being more free style than other breeds. For more information contact the Whitefaced Woodland Sheep Society

Although this breed produces the finest fleece of all the downland sheep, it has been developed mainly for meat. The wool is short, so needs to be woollen spun, but it dyes well and makes a good, bulky yarn suitable for outerwear. It also felts well. As the sheep are particularly prone to fly strike, unless they are kept in their original windy, downland environments, extra care is needed. For more information contact the Southdown Sheep Society

This breed is at risk, but one ram, called Nobby for some unaccountable reason, has become well known, if not notorious, as the star of The Sheep Show (link is external) which appears at agricultural shows throughout Britain. Another great sheep show is Sheer Sheep (link is external), which also tours shows regularly. The wool is bouncy and firm, quite short and white, although there are often dark spots in different hues which add character. The fleece is firm, but resilient and most suitable for outerwear, accessories and felting. For more information contact the Norfolk Horn Breeders Group

This breed can produce the finest fibre of all the British breeds and is one whose history can be traced back to the eighth century. Shetland fleece comes in eight main colours, but there are also various types of markings, all with special GaelicNorse names. We have 19 Shetland yarns in our range in up to seven colours, plus some dyed ones. Follow this link (link is external). The fleece is fine, soft and crimpy, but sometimes short. The same animal can produce fleece of very mixed quality which is a challenge when we sort and grade, but the best is suitable for luxurious lace-weight yarns for shawls and scarves. For more information contact the Shetland Sheep Society

Black Welsh Mountain Some people believe there are no such thing as black sheep. While some breeeders may not welcome them, this is nonsense. In fact Black Welsh Mountain sheep were specially developed in the early 20th century to provide black wool. Black Welsh Mountain sheep have been bred selectively to reduce or eliminate 'kempy' (coarse) fibres. Of all the black sheep the fleece from this breed is generally both the finest and darkest. But weather and sun will bleach black wool, so even black lambs' wool is more an 'off black' shade than truely black. Follow this link (link is external) to find the yarns that are currently available

Bluefaced Leicester The aristocratic Roman nose on Bluefaced Leicester sheep gives them a certain distinction and the wool follows suit. This very popular pure wool is quite creamy in colour, particularly when worsted spun, and can be used for baby clothes. We also use this lovely, fine, soft and semi-lustrous wool to blend with mohair creating a drapey yarn which is particularly suitable for woven items. There are a few specialist flocks with black (really a dark brown) Blue Faced Leicesters and we use the fleece to add colour and softness to fine yarns.

A Dutch import from the island of Texel, the largest of the Frisian Islands in North Hollands Wadden Sea. Living in Britain since the 1970s, the Texel is a big, meaty sheep, with a heavy head, long body and short legs. More functional than elegant, they are often used for cross breeding to produce lamb. They are normally white, but the dark-coloured ones are also bred for wool and are called Blue Texels. The wool is fine, soft and crimpy. For more information contact the Texel Sheep Society (link is external) and The Blue Texel Sheep Society (link is external).

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust classes this breed as vulnerable. The sheep are small with short, brown fleece. They were bred from Manx and Shetland in the early twentieth century specifically to graze parkland. Although the colour is attractive, the shortness sometimes makes the fibre difficult to spin, so it is sometimes blended with silk or alpaca. When knitted up, the short fibres make our pure Castlemilk yarns bulky with a plush, velvety handle.

With a surname as unpronounceable as it is unspellable, these sheep have up to six horns, so the wool has a lot to live up to! It is short, strong and crimpy and a lovely deep rich brown in colour. It's good when used on its own for outerwear or rugs and produces a softer yarn when blended with mohair. The sheep are natives of the Isle of Man and go blond in the sun which makes for a range of colours that can produce a heathered effect. When blended with Hebridean, Manx makes an attractive, rich chocolate brown yarn. For more information follow this link to the Manx Loaghtan Sheep Breeders Group

These beautiful, tall and elegant sheep have long shiny coats with fine, wavy wool. They may be dark, when the wool is greybrown, but most are cream. The breed is descended from a cross-bred ram called Blue-cap, continuing the genetics of a Teeswater ewe and an English Leicester ram. So they have dark ears and noses, but white, slightly heavy legs. For more information contact the Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Breeders' Association

An illustrious older breed, but now endangered in the UK. The sheep are large with a long, lustrous fleece which comes in white and greybrown. The wool is softer and shinier when worsted spun and similar in many ways to Cotswold (see above). It dyes well and is good for outerwear. For more information contact the Leicester Longwool Sheepbreeders Association (link is external) whose name is as long as the fleece.

These sheep, from Herefordshire and the South Welsh borders, are small and almost resemble large teddy bears! Their fleece is either white or dark, or more specifically a creamy white and mottled greybrown. The fleece is fine, crimpy and warm. In the 16th century the wool, called Lemster Wool from the local town (now spelled Leominster), was used to make fine stockings for Queen Elizabeth l. This is an ideal breed for smallholders and the ewes are particularly good mothers. For more information contact the Ryeland Flock Book Society

This interesting breed, descended from Irelands only native sheep, was created to include the characteristics of native Irish sheep and remove the qualities inherited from the imported Leicester breeds. The sheep produce a lovely soft, white, semi-lustre fleece with a length ideal for woollen and worsted spinning. Theyre classed as rare in Ireland, and in fact the fleece we use comes from a specialist flock in England. For more information see the Galway Sheep Breeders Association

Teeswater rams, with their large frames and soft fleeces, are often crossbred with Swaledale ewes to create Masham sheep, the so-called 'mule of the north'. They originated in Teesdale and are occasionally, but incorrectly, called Teesdale. Once numerous, they are now quite rare, but their beautiful fine, long white fleeces are very attractive and they deserve to be supported to escape their official Rare Breed Survival Trust vulnerable status. These elegant sheep have black ears, noses and brownwhite legs and their kemp-free fleeces may weigh up to eight kilograms (18 lb) of separate wavy locks up to 30 cm (12 inches) long. For more information contact the Teeswater Sheep Breeders Association

BorerayThe rarest of all British breeds, the Boreray has a double fleece of coarse and fine fibre similar to North Ronaldsay (see below), but tending to browns rather than greys. Jane Cooper helped us to collect enough fleece to produce the first-ever commercial batch of 350 balls in 2012. Normally best for aran and chunky yams, Boreray fibre provides extra bulk and warmth. When de-haired, the Boreray also produces a lace yarn.

These small dark sheep are almost, but not quite black. They have lovely characters, look after themselves and are therefore very popular for conservation grazing. The older ladies go grey which adds a second shade when the fibre is woven, or makes a knitting yarn more interesting. The fleece is fine and long and sometimes has lustre, but it can easily get matted, which can be a problem at the sorting and grading stage. The wool blends very well with Mohair, which makes a silvery charcoal grey, or with Manx, which produces a richer mid-brown.

This Dutch breed is growing in popularity with farmers as breeding ewes. Zwartbles are calm sheep with lovely manners and an almost black fleece which, when bleached in the sun, goes rusty red at the tips. The colour of the resulting yarn is bitter chocolate. We blend it with mohair to improve the handle and it comes out like dark, shiny coal. Rather nice! For more information contact the Zwartbles Sheep Association

This Northumberland breed is a direct descendant of the Dishley Leicester sheep created by Robert Bakewell in the eighteenth century and is said to be the largest of the the indigenous breeds in the British Isles. Tall, white and with distinctively large ears, these elegant sheep produce good, medium-fine wool with some lustre.

This is probably the hardiest of all the UKs mainland breeds and lives largely on the Cumbrian fells which are among the highest parts of England. The young sheep have dark fleeces, but by the time they are two to three years old these go grey or white. The wool dyes beautifully and works well for mats, rugs and floorings, but it can also be knitted into accessories, bags and body warmers. It is perhaps the only yarn for a real fleece jacket? To see the Herdwick in our range follow this link (link is external)

This breed emerged in the 1980s when the Macauley Land Use Research Institute in Scotlands Bowmont Valley crossed Saxon Merino sheep with Shetland. The idea was to produce a hardy breed for the Scottish climate, but with a good fleece to give a dual (meat and fleece) income for Scotlands hill farmers. Although the fleece was good, the breed was not taken up by farmers and there are now only a few hundred true Bowmonts left. The finest fleece, white with an excellent crimp and an average staple of 3-5 inches, has a 17-21 micron count and comes from sheep with more Merino, about 75%, than Shetland. The Bowmont we use comes from both Scotland and Wales and generally has an 18-22 micron count.

We have a soft spot for this Swedish breed developed on the island of Gotland over 1, 000 years ago, and it's probably our favourite. This has nothing to do with the fact that Sue Blacker's flock is Gotland! There are only around 1, 500 in the UK, but they were originally imported to Scotland from the island they take their name from in the Baltic Sea directly south of Stockholm. Their wool is wonderful and makes very light garments. It comes in a variety of greys from silver to charcoal; its very fine, long and lustrous and felts easily and natural and dyed Gotland yarns

Surviving in the Romney Marshes has given these sheep superb feet and as a result they have been used in cross breeding all over the world. The fleece is fine and lustrous with a pronounced crimp and, when processed, it produces excellent woollen and worsted yarn, the best of it beautifully soft. There are some dark Romneys, but these are rare. Generally this is a good, all-purpose yarn with a wide range of capabilities highly suitable for dyeing. For more information contact the Romney Sheep Breeders Asociation (link is external). Dating from 1895, it is one of the oldest in the UK.

A Mule is a cross breed, in practice mostly Blue-faced Leicester rams with mountain ewes from Wales, the Pennines or Scotland. The resulting fleece is often long, very soft, fine and highly crimped. We select carefully as the range of ewes inevitably produce a range of results! The illustration here shows what came from a Suffolk ram and a North of England mule. For more information contact the North of England Mule Sheep Association (link is external) the Scotch Mule Association (link is external) or the Welsh Mule Association (link is external).

Another rare breed, one that has learned to graze on seaweed on the Orkney Island from which they take their name. As a result they are fenced out to the beaches to conserve grazing for cattle. The fleece is quite coarse, but very soft and comes in a range of colours from white through to grey and brown. This creates design opportunities for knitwear, perhaps in the style favoured by a certain Danish TV detective. The sheep are small with strong wills. For more information contact the North Ronaldsay Sheep Fellowship

This small and rare breed comes from the Tywi Valley south of the Cambrian Mountains in Carmarthenshire. The Balwen is a mainly black, hardy Welsh mountain breed although there are white blazes (which is what the word Balwen means in Welsh) and white on the feet and tips of the tail. Their fleece is coarser and paler than that of the the Black Welsh Mountain, making a yarn with character and white kempy hairs for contrast. Good for thick rugs and blankets.

The Portland is unusual in that the ewes are able to breed at any time of the year. This is a small, rare and protected heathland breed from Dorset with links to the Wessex tan-faced group of sheep. The characteristic colour of their soft, creamy fleece is tinged slightly tanbrown from the legs and face. For more information contact the Portland Sheep Breeders Group

These sheep come from the same St Kilda archipelago as the Boreray (see above), but as the breed has been brought into wider use there are several flocks across the country and it is not as rare. Soay sheep shed their fleeces and the breed is quite wild, so good fleece may be difficult to collect. The fibre is short, fine and mainly brown with some coarser fibres. It is used mainly for finer or lace weight yarns. For more information contact the Soay Sheep Society

Ten years ago this native Welsh breed was little known outside the Lleyn Peninsula, but it has recently become more popular with farmers as a good breeding ewe. This is good news for knitters as the fleece is good, fine, mid-length and lustrous. Lleyn also produces a nice yarn on its own, and is particularly good if used for felting and dyeing.

It confuses some, but Mohair comes from the angora goat, pictured right, while angora comes from the angora rabbit, below. Mohair dyes beautifully and we often make the most of that by blending it with wool to produce some specialist yarns. There are three broad qualities of mohair: kid, young adult and adult. Generally, the older the animal, the coarser the fibre, but older mohair is so hard wearing that it is ideal for floor rugs. Fibre from younger animals is excellent for socks. Almost all mohair is white, but some is silver. Lustrous mohair fibre responds well to dyes and produces some intense and attractive colours. Unlike wool, mohair is uncrimped and smooth and therefore sometimes difficult to spin; kid mohair can be spun pure, but to get better results we usually add wool to young and adult fibre and recommend blending 10-15% of fine wool with the other grades. The finished yarns are fluffy compared to wool. Goats are also bred for their milk, meat and skin. Very little organic mohair is produced in the UK. South Africa is the world's largest producer.

Classed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as both local and vulnerable, the Devon & Cornwall Longwool was so at risk that the two county breed societies combined to help the continuation of the breed. The fleeces are among the longest and heaviest of all the British breeds and the fleeces are coarse. The wool has to be chopped and blended for processing and we use it to make a tough, sustainable garden and craft twine (link is external) which uses the lambs wool.

Probably the most numerous breed of sheep in England and, like the Cotswold, the foundation of the wool trade that historically provided the country with so much wealth. A larger, hardy sheep with drooping ears, the head and legs are dark brownblack. The fleece is strongly crimpy and resilient. Best blended or used as the warp for throws and blankets. For more information contact the Suffolk Sheep Society

This breed comes from the Teifi valley of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in West Wales and was created by using Shropshire Down rams, with their distinctive black faces which at times look like shiney leather, and local Welsh Mountain ewes. The result produces an attractive, bone-white wool with occasional dark kempy hairs. The yarn is firm and good for outerwear. Interest in the breed has increased since it is was listed by the Rare Breed Survival Trust in 1994.

This breed was originally developed in Australia from 75% Merino crossed with 25% Lincoln. The sheep produce a lovely very fine, soft and crimpy white wool on sheep which are hardier than Merinos and so better suited to the wet UK weather. For more information contact the Polwarth Sheepbreeders' Association of Australia

Organic The Natural Fibre Company is licensed under the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) for organic production and dyeing by The Soil Association who inspect us thoroughly every year (our License Number is X9061). We document each stage of processing from from receiving fleece to sending back finished yarn, including transport records, to show an unbroken chain from the field to the final destination. Accredited farmers, both our customers and suppliers, are also required to comply and are inspected annually by the Soil Association or other licensing organisations. Farmers have a lot to do before they can produce fleece that is genuinely organic and to maintain the integrity of our organic production we separate their wool from the rest and specially clean and purge all the machines before our specialist production runs. We cannot accept fleece as organic unless it complies with Soil Association (link is external) requirements. Contact us to discuss the various equivalents. Please note that the requirements are already agreed with Organic Farmers and Growers (link is external) and Demeter (link is external) which is an international standard covering 43 countries.In order to have their fibre processed organically, customers must send it to us in clearly-marked packaging (which we can supply) and be able to produce copies of their current applicable certificates and product schedules. They also have to sign our organic compliance statement. Please note, we were the first company in the UK to process organic alpaca and can also process organic mohair. This is a new service, so feel free to speak to us about it.