Saving seaside Scottish sheep
The future of a rare, seaweed-eating sheep in Orkney looks more secure, thanks to the work of a new charity.


The future of the rare, seaweed-eating sheep that have thrived on the tiny island of North Ronaldsay, the most northerly on Orkney’s archipelago, since Neolithic times looks to be secure thanks to a charity formed a year ago.
The Orkney Sheep Foundation (OSF) aims to protect the North Ronaldsay breed, which is famed for living exclusively on the seashore, except in the lambing season, when the ewes are brought inland.
The animals’ digestion is so accustomed to a diet of kelp that they need to be kept on the shore by a 13-mile dry-stone wall (sheep dyke) built in 1832 that encircles the island, otherwise they risk getting copper poisoning from eating too much grass inland or cross-breeding.
The OSF is currently raising funds to repair three miles of the sheepdyke that have been severely damaged by ferocious storms. To donate, visit www.theorkneysheepfoundation.org.uk
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
An experienced journalist, Paula Minchin, Country Life's Managing & Features Editor, has worked for the magazine for 10 years — during which time she’s overseen two special issues guest-edited by His Majesty The King in 2013 and in 2018, and the bestselling 2022 edition masterminded by his wife, Queen Camilla. A gamekeeper’s daughter, Paula began her career as a crime reporter on The Sidmouth Herald in Devon, before becoming Pony Club & Young Rider Editor, then Racing Editor, at Horse & Hound. Paula lives in Somerset with her two working Labradors, Nimrod and Rocky.
-
Christian Bolt won't stop until he can revive the Renaissance sculpture technique of terra secca
At his studio fringed by the mountains of Klosters, Swiss sculptor Christian Bolt is feverishly cooking up recipes to re-create terra secca, a material used in Renaissance Italy, not only to expand his own artistic horizons, but to help save the planet.
-
A three-bedroom bungalow that's escaped from the 1970s... and it might be the most beautiful beachside home we've seen
Shipstal Point is for sale for the first time in its history — and it's the sort of place that can't help but put a smile on your face.