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The Farm Photo Gallery

Spring

Spring is lambing time at Eastside. Our ideal lambing time starts in mid April when the weather is hopefully a little warmer and the grass on our hills is growing well to ensure a plentiful milk supply for the new lambs. You can read more about lambing time here at "The Seasonal Farm".

Farm Overview Farm & Cottage Blog The Seasonal Farm


  • A ewe seeks some shade with her lamb on a hot day in spring
  • A ewe with her 2 week old twins on the Blackhill
  • A cheeky lamb!
  • Orphaned lambs drinking from a feeder in the shed
  • Orphaned lambs feeding from the milk bucket
  • Orphaned lambs playing in their enclosure
  • Lambing at Eastside is timed for the Spring grass
  • Late lambing means the ewes should have the Spring grass
  • A lamb suckles milk from its mother
  • The shepherd checks the flock at a distance
  • The shepherd checks the sheep twice a day at lambing time
  • A ewe with twins on the hill
  • The track to Eastside in the Spring
  • Blackface ewes are very good mothers
  • Some lambs are orphaned and need special care
  • The orphans get trained to feed until we find them a mother
  • Two friends
  • The swallows start to arrive and build their nests
  • Jumping for joy!
  • Twins playing outside the cottages
  • Cotton Grass flowers on the hills in spring
  • The Eastside boundary wall or "march" in late evening golden light
  • The nearby village of Carlops with a good local pub
  • A ewe and her twins is kept in for observation
  • A new born lamb - curious of the camera!

Summer

All the ewes have lambed by mid May and the lambs are growing well on the plentiful grass. By June, they have quadrupled in size and are robust enough to be gathered in with their mothers for marking.  Summer is also the time for wool clipping or shearing. To find out more about this time of the year please read "The Seasonal Farm"

Farm Overview Farm & Cottage Blog The Seasonal Farm


  • Looking North East from the Kipps towards the Flotterstone Glen
  • A ewe and lamb on the Kipps in summer looking towards Edinburgh in the background
  • From the Kipps looking towards Scald Law
  • The hill pasture supports a diverse range of wild flowers and grasses
  • Wild flowers in the meadow in summer
  • Harebells flower
  • and the Wild Thyme and Heather come into bloom
  • From the wild flower meadow looking towards the farm steading
  • The ewes and lambs are gathered into the handling pens for clipping and marking
  • The ewes and rams are sorted clipped and returned to the hill
  • Gill - one of our enthusiastic working collie dogs!
  • The sheep are sheared or "clipped" at this time of year
  • Shearing is a highly skilled job that requires keeping the sheep moving and comfortable
  • Eastside wool is coarse but perfect for carpets
  • Marking is when the lambs are marked and counted
  • Marking is when the shepherd knows for sure how successful the lambing has been
  • The lambs are now almost the size of their mothers
  • The orphan lambs have also grown well
  • After marking the sheep return to the hill for the rest of the summer
  • It is not always sunny at Eastside, but the light can be spectacular
  • Over the years we have planted many mixed species shelter belts on the farm
  • We just recently planted a few more to hopefully help the endangered Black Grouse population
  • Our two resident chickens enjoy the summer a lot more than the winter months
  • Henrietta is a Gold Lace Orpington and Talulla is a Speckled Sussex
  • A view from the top of the Kipps looking due East down the Pentland range

Autumn

Late autumn is in many ways when the farm's year starts. This is when the male sheep (tups) are brought together with the ewes to conceive new lambs. The weather can range from glorious, golden sunshine to rain or even snow. The ever-changing weather makes Eastside an exciting place to visit again and again as the hills always seem different.  To read more about farm life at this time of year click here: "The Seasonal Farm"

Farm Overview Farm & Cottage Blog The Seasonal Farm


  • Showing the Eastside farmstead in autumn and the surrounding fields looking to Cap Law and Braid Law
  • We time the "tupping" carefully so that ewe's lamb in Late Spring
  • Ewes are gathered and separated from the hogs before the tups are put out
  • The ewes are then brought into the fields, like this one on the Blackhill to meet the "boys"
  • The tups are put out into fields with the ewes in November
  • A tup's amorous advances on a ewe!
  • The track to Eastside in the autumn
  • Male blackface sheep or "tup"
  • A stone wall or "dyke" at Eastside in the Autumn
  • A lovely combination of textures and colours can be seen in the Autumn
  • Sunset over the Kipps at Eastside with gathered sheep returning home
  • Early morning light on the Eastside road in Autumn
  • A stone wall on the Kitchen Moss looking down the Gutterford burn onto Spittal
  • 200 year old walls are maintained as farm boundaries
  • A tup having some rest time in the shed
  • The handling pens at Westside in autumn
  • A ewe waits patiently in the handling pens
  • Every family has a black sheep
  • Sorting 5 year old ewes
  • Ewes being vaccinated against disease
  • A view from the West Kipp onto the farm steading
  • Tups get their horns polished before the sale
  • Buying tups at a Blackface tup auction
  • Two new tups go back to Eastside
  • The farm house and cottages in Autumn

Winter

Winter can be a harsh time at Eastside, sometimes with deep snow or cold winds and rain. Being in a cosy cottage toasting your toes by the fire makes you appreciate that surviving outdoors is a very different matter, requiring a good knowledge of the local environment. This essential knowledge is something that the sheep at Eastside have passed from generation to generation. This is the time of year that the ewes are "in lamb" and making the most of their hill environment. Read more about winter on the farm at the "Seasonal Farm".

Farm Overview Farm & Cottage Blog The Seasonal Farm


  • Beech trees at the bottom of the farm track in winter
  • We're prepared and can look the sheep even if the snow is really heavy!
  • Tups coming in for a rest in January after the tupping season.
  • The farm steading in a blizzard
  • Archie greets us on our way to the farm steading
  • Looking down the valley into the farm steading from the top of the Kipps.
  • The ewes are put back to the hill for winter
  • They easily find food and shelter even in the harshest conditions on the hill
  • Misty the working collie having had some fun in the snow
  • Christmas at Eastside Cottages looking out to the West Kipp beyond
  • A view of the farm steading looking up at the Kipps
  • A wintery view of the front of the farm house with the Kipps in the background
  • An intrepid walker makes it to the top of the Kipps in the snow
  • The line of beech trees skirting the base of the Blackhill
  • The beech tree lined road up to Eastside in the snow
  • The ewes stay in family groups and keep to their hefts
  • A tree in the old wood on Braid Law
  • Grasses at the top of the old drove road
  • The path to Balerno at Cap Law looking onto the East Kipp
  • Red sky at night - shepherd's delight!

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