Meet our Tenants

Steve and Karen Hallam, Grange Head Farm

The Hallam family have been at Grange Head Farm since February 2003. Steve and Karen are sheep farmers at the remote hill farm, which is located within the North York Moors National Park. Grange Head is one of the more truly rural farms on the Estate.

Steve and Karen farm 477 acres of upland hill and have in the region of 1,800 sheep. They also have grazing rights on Egton High Moor above the farm. The land is all grazed and an occasional silage or hay crop is cut when conditions allow, usually once a year. Being so high on the Moor, the land tends to be very wet in the winter so the sheep come down to lower pastures. This then limits the grazing during the winter months.

The farmstead has numerous buildings which are used in spring as lambing sheds. As soon as the conditions are right the lambs are turned out on grass to join the rest of the flock.

Steve commented ‘We have a flock of pure Cheviot sheep which is rare in this area. They are usually crossed with other breeds but we don’t do that here. We would like to develop a niche market for hogget meat if we can which means we keep the wether lambs on the moor for one more year, where they will graze on the heather which benefits the land as well as the farm business’.