Having previously worked alongside his family in its sheep and beef enterprise at Otterburn in Northumberland, Peter Hedley set out to go his own way when the family business was broken up.

When Roxburghe Estates put the tenancy of Swinside Townfoot, at Oxnam, near Jedburgh, out to tender in 2012, Peter and his wife Vicki fought off stiff competition to win the tenancy, eventually taking it on at the November term that year.

Winning the tenancy did not, however, secure the future of this young farming couple, as the initial short limited duration agreement was only for two years. Thankfully, the hard work they threw at the farm in their first year, even reseeding and improving the drainage, helped to illustrate their abilities and the estate put the offer of a 15-year lease on the table.

"We have two young boys - William (5) and Matthew (3) - and a determination to farm," states Peter. "It was a bit of a relief to have the security of a 15-year tenancy on offer.

"However, whilst we were negotiating the terms of the proposed new lease, the estate decided it would like to sell the farm and moved us to a different rented unit."

"We took a very deep breath, spoke to a couple of banks and spent hours working on business plans and now, almost unbelievably, we are in the process of buying Swinside Townfoot. In the near future everything should be signed and sealed.

"There is even light at the end of the tunnel as far as CAP support is concerned as, hopefully, we will be eligible for support under the new scheme this year. At present we receive nothing."

Having come from a family with a solid reputation for breeding and selling ewe lambs, Peter knew that particular enterprise could be made to work when he moved to Swinside Townfoot.

"The farm is now all down to grass. There was a little bit of arable when we arrived, but I think the farm is more suited to grass.

"We have about 200acres of grass hill and the rest is more in-bye. It is quite a nice split. The farm can grow a lot of grass and has proved ideal for the North Country Cheviot ewe flock that we brought with us from Otterburn."

"We brought 650 ewes to start with and since then have worked steadily to put numbers up, as the farm can carry more than we set out with.

"We breed all of our own replacement NCC's by breeding the gimmers pure. The ewes go to the Bluefaced Leicester as we are aiming to sell Cheviot Mule ewe lambs."

"In November, last year, we were given another opportunity, this time to rent 250acres of the farm next door. We jumped at the chance as the ground is pretty much right outside the front door of our cottage. We were able to tup almost 200 more ewes and now have 995 to lamb.

"We also have a mixed flock to lamb on for the owner of that same farm, Oxnam Row. Since December, I have been contract shepherding there alongside the work here.

"We start lambing on April 1. In advance of that, we started feeding for triplets from scanning time and the rest have been getting a ewe roll from Davidsons Animal Feeds since late February. The rolls are fed outside on the ground with a snacker to all the sheep, although we have now housed the triplets for feeding inside."

"About a month before lambing last year, we swapped on to Davidsons Super Ewe rolls, on the advice of our rep, Steven Turnbull. We got results from this change, the colostrum in the ewes was absolutely fantastic and this meant the lambs were up, sucked and full a short time after being born. We had next to zero cases of watery mouth and things like joint ill."

"Cheviots are hardy sheep, but we are lucky to have sheds which mean that the ewes can all be lambed inside. We have fewer losses inside and to me that justifies the extra work.

"Lambing is going to be busy this year with more ewes and spread over two places! I am lucky to have Vicki's dad here to help most days and he will take charge of lambing at Oxnam Row. He is a retired farmer, but I think he probably works harder now than ever!"

"We will also have two vet students in the sheds this year and an old school friend of mine to do nights."

"Last year, we sold 430 Cheviot Mule ewe lambs to average £112. We sold 200 through the ring at Longtown, where we always do well, selling to a top of £160 per head in 2013.

"Pure Cheviots were sold as shearlings last year for the first time. We were delighted with the sale at Lockerbie, averaging £900 for five and topping at £1200 twice."

"With prime lambs, we have a first draw in July and then a bigger lot in August, then work away from there," added Peter.